WHTOILDIP 

OH25UHDAYS 





SYLVANUS STALL, D.D. 



WITH THE CHILDREN 
ON SUNDAYS 

Through Eye-Gate and Ear-Gate 
into the City of Child-Soul 




(By Sylvanus Stall, D. D. 

Author of "What a Young Boy Ought to Know," "What a Young 

Man Ought to Know," etc., "Methods of Church Work," 

"Faces Toward the Light," etc., etc. 



'Vhis book is published and sold exclusively in the United States by 

THE UPLIFT PUBLISHING COMPANY 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



y 51 



Copyright, 1911, by SYLVANUS STALL. 



Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England. 

Protected by International copyright in Great Britain and all her 
colonies, and, under the provisions of the Berne Convention, in 
Belgium, Prance, Germany, England, Spain, Switzerland, Tunis, 
Hayti, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro and Norway. 



Att rights reserved. 



[PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES.] 



COPYRIGHT, 1893, BY SYLVANUS STALL. 
COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY SYLVANUS STALL. 
COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY SYLVANUS STALL. 



All the dramngs and color -pictures in this book have been spe- 
cially prepared by C. M. Burd, of New York City, for exclusive use 
in these pages. Each of these has been copyrighted in the United 
States and throughout Europe, and all copyright privileges are 
reserved. 






©CI.A289579 



f 



DEDICATED 

TO PARENTS AND CHILDREN WHO DESIRE 
TO MAKE SUNDAY THE HAPPIEST AND MOST 
IMPRESSIVE DAY OF THE WEEK. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE. 

Preface 9 

Suggestions to Parents : 17 

1. Oyster and Crab — Conscience 1 27 

2. Worm in the Apple — Sin in the Human Heart 33 

3. Wayside Weeds and Garden Flowers — Neglected vs. Christian 

Children 38 

4. Nuts— God Means that We Must Work 46 

5. Banks — Gathered and Guarded Treasures 51 

6. Chart — Avoiding Dangers 56 

7. Anchor — Hope that Lays Hold of Christ 61 

8. Husks — The Disappointed Pleasure Seeker 66 

9. Iron, Low Grade and High Grade — Character and Worth 75 

10. A Pocket Rule — How God Measures Men . . . •. 81 

11. The Magnet — Jesus the Great Drawing Power 86 

12. Keys — How to Unlock the Human Heart 92 

13. Traps — Unsuspecting Mice and Men 97 

14. Bread — Universal Soul Hunger 102 

15. The Stone — The Natural and Changed Heart 107 

16. The Polished Stone — Perfection Through Suffering 112 

17. Ropes — Habits and How They Become Strong 120 

18. Watch and Case — Soul and Body 125 

19. Pearls — One of Great Price 130 

20. Coal and Wood — Jesus the Source of Spiritual Light and Warmth. . . 135 

21. Lanterns — The Best Light for Our Path 140 

22. Candles — How to Reflect, Obscure or Extinguish the Light 145 

23. A Broken Chain — Breaking the Whole Law 151 

24. Looking-Glass — Seeing Ourselves in God's Law 156 

25. Rain — God's Wisdom and Power 161 

26. Snow — Lessons Which it Teaches 168 

27. Plastic Face — Character in the Countenance 174 

28. Seeds — Thoughts, Word, Deeds, — Their Life and Perpetuity 179 

29. Sowing — The Spring Time of Life 185 

30. Reaping — The Harvest Time of Life 192 

7 



8 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

31. Wheat and Chaff — The Coming Separation 198 

32. The Heart — The Most Wonderful Pump in the World 204 

33. The Eye — The Most Valuable and Most Wonderful Telescope 210 

34. The Eye — Smallest Camera, Most Valuable Pictures 217 

35. Frogs — The Plagues of Egypt 222 

36. Blood — The Feast of the Passover 228 

37. Pine Branch — The Feast of Tabernacles 234 

38. Leaves — The Lessons Which They Teach 240 

39. The Turtle — Man Like and Yet Unlike the Animals 246 

40. Grasshopper and Ant — Negligence and Industry 252 

41. Balances — How God Weighs People 260 

42. White and Charred Sticks — Good and Bad Company 267 

43. Dogs — The Dogs of St. Bernard 2.^2 

44. The Camera — God's Picture Book 279 

45. The Phonograph — Books that Talk 285 

46. Magnet and Needle — God's Guiding Hand 290 

47. Fish in Aquarium — The All-Seeing Eye of God 295 

48. The Clock — Measuring Time 300 

49. Plans — Living with a Purpose 307 

50. The Christmas Tree — The Lessons Which It Teaches 311 

51. Easter Sunday — The Resurrection of the Body 318 

52. Crowns — We Are Children of the King 325 

A Word to Parents 331 

Press Notices 332 



PREFACE. 

SUNDAY ought to be the most cheerful, sunniest, happiest and 
best day of the week in every home. In most homes it is the 
dullest and most dreary day of the week to the children, 
and the most taxing and the most wearying to the parents, 
especially to the mother. It not only ought to be, but it can be 
made, not only the brightest and happiest but also the most influen- 
tial in the character-building and religious training of the children. 
In some households Sunday is looked forward to with anticipations 
of pleasure throughout the entire week. In these homes, the father 
does not come down stairs on Sunday morning and say: "Now, 
children, gather up those flowers, throw them out of the window, 
pull down the blinds, get down the Bible and we will have an awful 
solemn time here to-day." Neither is the day given to frivolity or 
the home to demoralizing influences. From morning until night 
there are two great principles that govern; first, the sacredness of 
the day, and second, the sacredness of the God-given nature 
of childhood. The day is not spent in repressing the child 
nature by a succession of "don't do that," "now stop that," 
etc., that begin in the morning and continue throughout the 
day, and end only when the little ones lose consciousness in sleep 
on Sunday night. In these homes, the parents recognize the fact 
that the child nature is the same whether the day is secular or 
sacred. On Sunday the child nature is not repressed, but the 
childish impulses are directed into channels suited to the sacred- 
ness of the day. In such homes the children, instead of being sorry 
that it is Sunday, are glad; instead of regretting the return of the 

9 



10 PREFACE. 

day with dislike and dread, they welcome it as the brightest, the 
cheeriest and the best of all the week. 

The purpose of the author in the preparation of this book in 
its present illustrated and slightly changed form, is to afford all 
parents a valuable aid in making Sunday not only the brightest, 
happiest and best day of the entire week for both parents and chil- 
dren, but also to aid the parents to make Sunday pre-eminently the 
day around which shall cluster throughout the entire life of each 
child the sweetest, tenderest and most sacred recollections of child- 
hood, of father and mother and of brother and sister, and especially 
of their knowledge of the Bible and of everything sacred. 

Did it ever occur to you, as a parent, that between the birth 
and the age of twenty-one years there are three solid years of Sun- 
days — an amount of time almost equal to the number of years given 
to an entire course of college training? The Creator has not laid 
upon parents the responsibilities of parenthood without giving them 
ample time and opportunity to discharge these obligations to Him, 
to themselves, and to their children. 

The idea which has been successfully demonstrated in hun- 
dreds of homes, where the impulses and natural inclinations of 
childhood have been turned into sacred channels on Sundays so as 
to enable the parents to teach spiritual truths in the most effective 
manner, is the method which is suggested by the author to the 
parents in the use, on Sunday afternoons, of the fifty-two little ser- 
mons given in this volume. 

The parent who fails to use wisely the opportunities of Sun- 
day afternoons for impressing the children with spiritual truths, 
loses the greatest opportunity that family life affords. Among the 
different instances known to the author, the following three may 
serve as illustrations of what may be found in many communities: 

I knew a mother who regularly on Sunday afternoons gath- 



PREFACE. 1 1 

ered her children about her and read them religious books and 
literature. In her considerable family, every child became emi- 
nently useful. One, who was a university professor, told me that 
those Sunday afternoons with his mother in the nursery embodied 
the most formative influences of his life. 

I know another family, of some seven or eight children, where 
Sunday was always used for religious instruction with the chil- 
dren. With the reading and other things, they always "played 
church", and the experience of those early childhood days made 
the boys splendid public talkers, and the girls were also very capa- 
ble in the same direction. No better school of oratory was ever 
organized. 

I know another family of four children, where the entire fam- 
ily looked forward throughout the week to the special and larger 
pleasure which Sunday always brought. They grew up naturally 
into a religious life, and developed that ability for public address 
and service which could not so well be gained in any other way. 

Sunday is about the only day in most of households where the 
father is home with his family. It adds greatly to the pleasure and 
impressiveness of the day and its services if the father, with the 
mother, enters heartily into the spirit of that which will be all the 
more enjoyed by the children. It will enable him also to stamp his 
personality deeper into the character of his children than possibly 
any other opportunity which may be afforded him in life. 

These brief object talks grew out of the necessities found in the 
author's own parish. When called to the pastorate of the Second 
English Lutheran Church, of Baltimore, I found a depleted congre- 
gation, while at the same time the Sunday-school was one of the 
largest and most flourishing in the city. It was then for the first 
time that I introduced regularly the preaching of "Five-minute 
object sermons" before the accustomed sermon on Sunday morning. 



12 PREFACE. 

In a very brief period, about one-fourth of the infant department 
and two-thirds of the main department of the school were in regular 
attendance upon the Sunday morning service, and, even after this 
particular form of address had been discontinued, the teachers and 
scholars continued regularly to come direct from the morning session 
of the school to the services of the church. 

These sermons were preached without notes, were subse- 
quently outlined and then spoken into the phonograph, put in manu- 
script by a phonographer, and, that the simplicity of style and dic- 
tion might be preserved, were printed with only slight verbal 
changes. 

The objects used in illustrating these talks have been chosen 
from among the ordinary things of every-day life. Such objects 
have the advantage of being easily secured, and on account of their 
familiarity also prove more impressive, and being more often seen, 
more frequently recall to mind the truths taught. 

To any thoughtful student who has marked the simple lan- 
guage and beautiful illustrations used by that Great Preacher and 
Teacher who "spake as never man spake," it will be unnecessary to 
say a single word in justification of this method of presenting 
abstruse truths to the easy comprehension of the young. Upon all 
occasions Jesus found in the use of the ordinary, every-day things 
about Him, the easy means of teaching the people the great truths 
of divine import. The door, the water, the net, the vine, the flowers 
which sprang at His feet, the birds that flew over His head, the 
unfruitful tree that grew by the wayside, the wheat and the tares 
that grew together in the field, the leaven which a woman hid in 
three measures of meal, the husbandman pacing his field engaged in 
sowing his grain, the sheep and the goats which rested together on 
the slopes waiting to be separated each into their own fold, the old 
garment mended with a piece of new cloth, the mustard seed, the 



PREFACE. 13 

salt — anything that chanced to be about the Master was used as an 
illustration, that He might plainly and impressively teach the people 
the saving truths of redemption and salvation. May we not also rea- 
sonably suppose that if Jesus were upon the earth to-day He would 
still exercise this same distinguishing wisdom in the use of the com- 
mon, every-day things by which He would now find Himself sur- 
rounded? 

Let it be distinctly understood that this book is not a substi- 
tute for the regular services of God's House. I believe in "the 
Church in the house," but I also believe that the entire family, 
including the children, should also be in the Church on the Lord's 
day. The absence of the children from the services of the sanc- 
tuary is one of the alarming evils of our day. There are but few 
congregations where children can be found in any considerable 
numbers. No one will attempt to deny the sad consequences which 
must follow as the inevitable results of such a course. The children 
at eight years of age who have not already begun to form the habit 
of church attendance, and are not quite thoroughly established in it 
at sixteen, will stand a very fair chance of spending their entire life 
with little or no attachment for either the Church or religious things. 
The non-church going youth of this decade will be the Sabbath- 
breakers and irreligious people of the next. 

Who are to blame for this state of affairs, and to whom are we 
to look for the correction of this existing evil? 

Manifestly, first of all, to the parents. That parental author- 
ity which overcomes the indifference of the child and secures his 
devotion to the irksome duties of secular life, should also be exer- 
cised to establish and maintain a similar fidelity to religious duties 
and spiritual concerns. If left to their own inclinations, children 
will invariably go wrong in the affairs of both worlds. Attendance 
upon the church should be expected and required, the same as 



14 PREFACE. 

attendance upon the secular instruction of the schools; for the best 
interests of the child are not more dependent upon the discipline of 
the mind than upon the development of the heart. In the formation 
of the habit of church attendance, it would be well to remind parents 
that example will be as helpful as precept. They should not send, 
but take their children to church. They should make room for them 
in the family pew, provide them with a hymn-book and see that 
they have something for the collection. Parents owe it to their 
children to teach them to be reverent in God's house, to bow their 
heads in prayer, to be attentive to the sermon; and while requiring 
these things of their children, they should also see well to it that 
after service, at the table, in the home, or elsewhere nothing dispar- 
aging of God's house, message or messenger should fall from their 
lips upon the ears of their children. 

As these little talks were originally used before the main 
sermon on Sunday morning before a mixed audience of adults and 
a large number of children, it has seemed best, in order to carry out 
the idea of preaching, that the manner of speaking as though to an 
audience should be retained in this book. It is better suited than 
any other method for use also by the parent when reading these 
pages to the children in the home. 

The earlier issues of these talks under the title: "Five Minute 
Object Sermons to Children" and the second volume: "Talks to 
the King's Children" were accorded a place of usefulness in nearly 
every land, and the author now sends forth this volume in its present 
illustrated and slightly revised form for a place in every home, 
trusting that it may be as influential in the lives of the children of 
to-day as it has proven in the lives of the children of yesterday. 

Sylvanus Stall. 




DR. STALL WITH HIS DAUGHTER AND HIS GRANDCHILDREN DRIVING TO CHURCH 



JL 




• 

La i ^l 


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""' r i 



THE LITTLE PREACHER AND HIS INTERESTED AUDIENCE 




LITTLE BILLIE TAKING UP THE COLLECTION 




DR. STALL READING TO HIS GRANDCHILDREN 



SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 

HELPFUL METHODS FOR MAKING SUNDAY AFTERNOON WITH THE 

CHILDREN THE MOST PLEASANT AND PROFITABLE 

DAY OF THE WEEK. 



The idea of "playing church" is by no means an innovation. What is 
shown in the pictures upon a preceding page has been actualized in many homes. 
Let me quote from a single letter which lies before me: 

"The writer was one of a large family of children and well remembers the 
Sunday afternoons spent in his village home. 'Playing church/ was one of its 
features. The chairs were placed in regular fashion, imitating the seating ar- 
rangements of a church, every one of us took his or her turn as preacher, hymns 
were sung, a real collection was taken and one of us, as preacher, took his text 
and preached the sermon. There wasn't a dull moment in those good, old Sun- 
day afternoons in our home. Occasionally, the preacher would provoke a smile 
by his original way of handling the text and of emphasizing some point in his 
discourse. 

"We have all grown up since those happy days; some of us attained to a 
degree of efficiency as public speakers, and we attribute much of our efficiency 
and character in life to those profitable Sunday afternoon hours." 

From the experiences of the children as narrated above, the suggestion 
occurs, why not use these object talks in like manner? "Play church" Sunday 
afternoons, read an "object sermon," show the illustrations, ask the questions at 
the end of each chapter and then follow it up with a discussion from the children, 
giving their ideas and experiences. 

You will find that you will get as much benefit and entertainment from 
these Sunday afternoons "playing church" service as the children will. You will 
be surprised at their interest and the originality that they will display in these dis- 
cussions. You will be quickening their faculty of observation and stirring their 

2 17 



1 8 SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 

imaginations, in a manner that will surely make observant, thoughtful and con- 
siderate men and women of the children, and consequently, affect their entire 
destinies in the years to come. Then, too, you yourself will be helped mentally 
and spiritually, because it is absolutely true that in the devotion that we exhibit 
and the time and attention that we give to our children in this companionship, 
we will ourselves be receiving large blessings in the development of our own 
character and the finer characteristics that make for good people. 

PLAYING CHURCH. 

The following suggestions will be helpful, to which original ideas may 
always be added. 

i. Make the "Afternoon Church" a real, not frivolous, occasion. The time 
it requires to make careful, pains-taking preparation on the part of the parent, 
is always profitably employed. 

2. The afternoon church should always be a regular, fixed engagement. 
It adds to its importance. 

3. Do not postpone nor omit it for any trivial reason. Treat it as any 
other important engagement. 

4. When visitors are in the home, invite them to be present and to partici- 
pate. It will help them as well as the juniors. 

5. The fact that there is only one child in the family does not preclude 
the idea of playing church; for the dolls can be brought to church and even 
chairs can be converted into imaginary people. 

6. Never permit the realness of the occasion to be questioned. Always 
avoid embarrassing the child and never ridicule. Refrain from laughing at any 
mistakes that may be made in speech, thought or conduct of the child, unless he 
first sees the mistake and invites you to join in his mirth. 

7. Ask any additional questions pertinent to the subject besides those 
suggested at the end of each sermon. It will develop wider thought and 
increase the interest. 

8. Encourage the child to ask questions, but always lead in directing the 
thought. 

9. Adults present should always enter seriously and earnestly into the 
whole program or plan with the child's spirit. Where adults enter upon the 
execution of the plan with this spirit it adds much to the enjoyment of all. If 
they cannot do this, they should not participate. 

10. A bell can be slowly rung as the time for church approaches. 

11. Use the brightest and most cheerful room in the house for the after- 
noon church. Add to the furnishings on Sunday anything which may make 
the room even more than ordinarily attractive. 



SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 19 

12. Chairs may be suitably arranged and a child can drive the others to 
and from church in an imaginary carriage, as shown in one of the pictures 
upon another page. 

13. When the church is held in another room, an older child or person 
can receive the attendants and usher them to seats. 

14. Open the church service with singing. Select several simple devo- 
tional hymns or songs, such as are used in the primary department of Sunday- 
schools. Have all the children learn the tunes and teach a verse of each song 
to any child that cannot read. 

15. A collection can be lifted by one of the children. A toy bank may 
be used in which to save the money received at this child's service, and subse- 
quently contributed through the Church or Sunday-school for missionary pur- 
poses. 

16. Teach the children the importance of saving from their own spending 
money, or earning what they wish to give in the collection. 

17. This money should always be regarded as sacred, and care should 
also be exercised lest this little fund might become a source of temptation to 
the children during the week. 

18. At some time during the service a brief prayer should be offered. 
This may consist of a sentence prayer by each in rotation or by all uniting in 
the Lord's Prayer, or in some brief selection from the Prayer Book. 

119. When a child is willing or wishes to do so, have him preach the 
sermon in his own way of expressing the thought, using the text or object 
of the day for his subject. Always give the same interested attention to him 
that is expected from him when another leads. 

20. Some of the objects mentioned in the sermons can be easily and 
cheaply obtained for use at the church. When such an object is secured, it 
should not be shown to the children in advance of being used. 

21. Do not prolong the service too greatly so as to weary the children. 
Effectiveness and pleasure usually terminate at the same time. Lend anima- 
tion to the service and interest will not so soon flag. It is well also to impart 
interest by having the parent enter heartily into every part of the service. 

22. A social period after "returning home" from the "children's church" 
should be introduced.. If the children have played driving to church before the 
service, the idea should be continued and completed by driving home in the 
same manner. 

AFTER CHURCH. 

23. After the conclusion of the church service, additional exercises or 
games suited to the sacredness of the day may be appropriately used to enter- 



20 SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 

tain the children and continue their happiness. By methods of this kind, Sunday 
may be made not only the most profitable, but the brightest and best day of the 
week. 

24. Some light refreshment may be introduced, as fruit, cake or candy. 
This refreshment should be something very simple and inexpensive, and also 
something not calculated to spoil the appetite or injure the digestion of the 
child. In recognition of good conduct, close attention or special help at the 
church service, one of the children may choose what the refreshment is to be 
for the next Sunday. This choice should be kept a secret during the week. 

25. Pictures and illustrations can be cut from magazines, and these can 
be pasted in a scrap book or on blank paper to represent Bible characters and 
scenes, or those used in the sermons. 

26. Many acting games and tableaux can be arranged by the children from 
the sermons and Bible stories. Chairs can be arranged so as to represent a pit 
or tent, and the children within them may be "Joseph in the Pit" (Genesis 
xxxvii) or "Daniel in the Lion's Den" (Daniel vi). See illustrations on pages 
80 and 91. 

FOR OLDER CHILDREN. 

2J. Let one child represent an idol. He must stand motionless and give 
no sign of life. The others are to ask him questions and for favors. If the 
"idol" laughs, moves or speaks, he loses and another takes his place. Idols are 
lifeless things that cannot move, see, hear or speak. 

28. Children's blocks are useful in building a well, altar, castle, temple, 
chariot, etc. Hiave the children give a text or verse from the Bible referring 
to the objects builded. A Bible story may be told about the object, its history, 
use, etc. 

29. One child, or more as may be needed, can pose to represent a char- 
acter or scene. The others are to guess the character represented. For exam- 
ple: A child can sit with hands upheld. A child on each side of him hold up 
the extended arms. They represent Moses with Aaron and Hur during the 
battle (Ex. xvii: 12). 

30. Charades, or words and scenes may be represented by the children 
in motion. The children may be divided into groups. One group will select 
a word and represent it in the presence of the others by motions. For example: 
Children come into the room and go through the motion of sowing ("Seeds"), 
reaping ("Harvest"), threshing with a flail ("Wheat and Chaff"), picking 
flowers ("Weeds and Flowers"), taking pictures ("Eye and Camera"). Many 
of the sermon subjects may be used in this manner. Cutting stone, measuring, 
eating husks, washing dirty face, etc. The other groups are to guess the word 
and have their turn. 



SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 21 

31. Children are always fond of riddles; especially when they are able 
to guess the answer. The suggested review questions at the close of each 
object sermon for afternoon church, may often be effectively used with slight 
changes. For example : "What is it that cannot see nor hear, but always knows 
when danger is near?" The answer is — "The Oyster." 

What is it which no boy or girl can see or hear, and the approach of which 
can not be made known by any of the natural senses? (Sin.) 
What is it which tells us when sin is near? (Conscience.) 
Have the children try to make up their own riddles from the objects 
shown and their uses, or lessons learned from the sermons. 

SLATES AND CRAYONS. 

32. Provide slates, or paper and pencils may be provided, and the chil- 
dren draw the object or something suggested by its use. Always have blank 
paper and pencils on hand for some of the games or exercises mentioned below. 

33. Cheap colored crayons can often be used with added value. 

34. Each Sunday appoint one child to take charge of the slates, papers 
and pencils, which are to be kept in a safe place and not disturbed during the 
week, and then to distribute them on the following Sunday. 

BUILDING AND WORD GAMES. 

35. Word building games are always interesting. Cut small squares of 
cardboard and plainly mark each with a letter. Many more vowels than conso- 
nants will be required. (These little squares with printed letters can be pur- 
chased at any toy-store.) Mix up the squares on a table, and the child who 
spells the largest number of names of places or objects mentioned in the ser- 
mons, using the letters on the squares, wins the game. 

36. This can be played in a variety of ways. For instance: Select the 
name of an object, person or place, and the one who first picks out the necessary 
letters to spell it, is declared the winner. 

$7. Each child is given the same number of assorted letters and all try 
to make up the largest list of names from his portion of letters in a given time. 

BIBLE GUESSES. 

38. Tell a Bible story, or review one of the object sermons, omitting the 
names of characters or objects. Without warning, the one reciting the story 
stops, and the next player carries on the story if he has been able to guess the 
omitted names, without mentioning them. If he has not discovered or guessed 



22 SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 

the right story, the next player takes it up, and so on until the story is com- 
pleted and everyone knows it. 

39. One of the children goes out of the room and the others decide on 
some object used in a sermon, or a certain thing mentioned in the Bible, which 
is to be described. For example: A watch, telescope, or the Ark, Joseph's 
coat of many colors, etc. Upon entering the room, the child may ask all manner 
of questions which can be answered by "yes" and "no". When the right thing 
is guessed, another goes out of the room and the game is repeated. Two or 
more children, or groups, may be the guessers at the same time. 

40. The game of thinking is equally interesting. The leader thinks of 
some character, place or object in the sermons or mentioned in the Bible. 
The "thinker" then says — "I am thinking of some thing (person or place) and 
the name begins with 'C (or the initial letter)." Each of the other players 
asks a question in turn, that can be answered by "yes" or "no". The questions 
are continued until some one guesses the name. The one who first guessed the 
name becomes the leader. 

41. Make word pictures by describing persons and scenes without men- 
tioning names. The others are to guess what it is. For example: The leader 
may say — "I see some ladies walking beside the water. Suddenly they stop 
and listen. Then one of them wades into the water and finds something," etc. 
If the picture is not promptly guessed, the story or picture of Pharaoh's daugh- 
ter finding the baby Moses (Ex. ii: 3) is further described, until the picture is 
made known. Other stories may be used in the same manner. 

42. One or two players go out. The others sit in line and choose a well 
known proverb, Bible verse, or sentence from the object sermon, having as 
many words as there are players. Each player having made certain what his 
word is, the others are called in. It is their duty to put the sentence together. 
They ask each player in turn a question on any subject, and in answering the 
player must use the particular word given him. The questions may be con- 
tinued, and the word must always be used in the answer, until the one guessing 
has discovered the particular word that player has, and so on until all the words 
in their order are guessed and the sentence or proverb discovered. 

In the same way, instead of the questions, the particular word may be 
acted, as charades, until the person guessing has discovered each word and at 
length composed the complete sentence. 

43. Distribute paper and pencils. Let a single letter be selected and have 
each child write down the names of characters, objects and places mentioned 
in the sermons, or the Bible, that have the same initial letter. For example: 
The letter "A" may be selected, then would follow "Apple", "Adam", "Apos- 
tles", "Angels", "Army", "Asia", etc. Other initial letters may be selected and 
the game continued. 



SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 23 

44. Have some one call out and write down a Bible name beginning with 
"A", as "Abram". The next one is to think of a name beginning with "B", as 
"Benjamin". "C" would come next, as "Caleb", then "David", "Eli", etc. 
The object is to see how many letters of the alphabet can be used and how 
often without repetition. Also names of places, objects and titles may be used. 

45. Ask the children to write down as many as they can of trees, or stones, 
flowers, birds, instruments, animals that are mentioned in the Bible. 

46. Bible geography can be made interesting and profitable. Get a shal- 
low box and fill it with fine sand. Cities and countries may be wonderfully 
made. A small pile of the sand will represent a mountain, strips of blue or 
white paper can be used for rivers and lakes. Use small blocks and spools for 
houses and temples, small pebbles for roads. The people can be represented by 
matches and trees by tiny branches or leaves. When Palestine, for instance, is 
to be studied, small pieces of paper may be laid on the sand for the cities; the 
names or initials of the cities should be written on the pieces of paper. 

47. Maps may be drawn and colored crayons used to show the roads, 
water, cities, buildings, etc. 

48. From one of the sermons or a Bible story, select the name of a per- 
son, place or thing. Have each player write a sentence with the selected name 
embodied in it. When the sentences are read aloud, it will show quite original 
uses made of the name. 

49. To supply missing letters is an easy, simple game. Write names of 
sermon objects or Bible characters with letters omitted. The children will enjoy 
supplying the missing letters necessary to complete the name. Sentences and 
Bible verses may be used with missing words for the children to supply. 

BIBLE DRILLS. 

50. Bible drills are entertaining and especially valuable to children old 
enough to read and commit the lessons to memory. By a simple method the 
children can figure out the books in the Bible and their classifications. By 
pursuing the studies, the names of the books will soon be learned and in their 
regular order. 

51. Have the children count the letters in "Old" (3) and "Testament" 
(9). Place them together (39) and it gives the number of books in the Old 
Testament. 

52. Now multiply these two figures (3X9) and the result will give the 
number of books in the New Testament (27). 

53. Add together the two sets of figures (39 plus 27) and you will find 
the whole number of books in the Bible (66). 

54. The figure "6" is found in the number of books in the Bible (66), the 



24 SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 

number of known authors or writers of the books (36), and the number of 
years during which the Bible was written (1600). 

Thus we have 36 authors, 66 books, 16 centuries. 

55. The books of the Old Testament may be divided into five groups: as 
the Pentateuch (Books of Moses), History, Poetry, Major Prophets and Minor 
Prophets. Have the children trace the outline of a hand on paper and the 
thumb and fingers will represent the groups. Thus, the thumb will represent 
the Pentateuch; the first finger, the History; the second finger, Poetry; the 
third finger, Major Prophets; and the fourth finger, Minor Prophets. 

56. The New Testament may also be divided into five groups and repre- 
sented by the other hand in the same manner. The five groups are Biography, 
History, Pauline Epistles (or Paul's Letters), General Epistles (or letters), 
and Prophesy. 

57. The number of books in each group of the Old Testament are : 5 plus 
12 plus 5 plus 5 plus 12 — equals 39 books. In the New Testament, the five 
groups are made up of 4 plus 1 plus 13 plus 8 plus 1 — equals 27 books. 

58. The name of each group with the number of books in the group, may 
be written on separate cards. The cards are shuffled and the children sort them 
and place them together in their proper order, forming the Old Testament, 
then the New Testament. 

59. The names of the different books which make up the groups are 
looked up and written under the name of the group. Take the groups in their 
regular order. Thus, group one would be Pentateuch, 5 books: Gen'e-sis, 
Ex'o-dus, Le-vit'i-cus, Num'bers, Deu'ter-on'o-my. The second and fifth groups, 
where there are twelve books each, may be subdivided into threes and fours for 
greater ease in committing to memory. 

60. If the proper spelling of the names has also been committed to mem- 
ory, or learned, then a regular spelling-bee may be held and the names of the 
Bible books used for the test words. The same tests may be made with the spell- 
ing of names of persons, places and things mentioned in the Bible. 

61. After the books of the Bible, in their order, have been learned, open 
the Bible and call out the book at which it is open. Name another book and ask 
which direction (toward the front or back of the Bible) shall the pages be 
turned to find that book. Many other test questions may be asked, such as: 
"What book is between Job and Proverbs?" "In which group is Lamentations 
to be found?" "Between what books is that of Luke?" 

62. Arrange the children in a row, or let them take their places in tents as 
shown on page 60, and then, as in a spelling-bee, ask the preceding or the follow- 
ing questions, or any other Bible questions that would be suited to the age of the 
children. When one fails to answer he loses his place and the child who gives 
the correct answer moves forward. The element of play is thus maintained. 



SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 25 

BIBLE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

63. Who was the first man? Adam. 

Who was the first woman? Eve. 

Who was the first murderer? Cain (Gen. iv: 8). 

Whom did he kill? His brother Abel. 

Who went to Heaven without dying? Enoch and Elijah. 

How old was Enoch "when God took him"? 365 years (Gen. v: 23, 24). The 

same number of years that there are days in a year. 
Who was the oldest man? Methuselah. 

How old was Methuselah when he died? 969 years (Gen. v: 27). 
Who built the Ark? Noah (Gen. vi). 
How many persons were saved in the Ark? Eight (Gen. vii: 7). Noah and his 

wife, his three sons and their wives. 
How old was Noah at the time of the Flood? 600 years (Gen. vii: 6). 
Who had the coat of many colors? Joseph (Gen. xxxvii: 3). 
How many brothers did Joseph have? Eleven (Gen. xlii: 3, 4). 
What did they do with Joseph ? Cast him into a pit and afterwards sold him to 

the Ishmaelitish merchantmen (Gen. xxxvii: 28). 
Where did the Ishmaelitish merchantmen take Joseph? To Egypt. 
To whom did they sell him? Potiphar (Gen. xxxix: 1). 
Who lied about Joseph and had him cast into prison? Potiphar's wife. 
Who were in the prison with Joseph ? The king's chief butler and chief baker 

(Gen. xl: 1, 3). 
Who was King of Egypt at the time Joseph was in Egypt ? Pharaoh. 
Why did Pharaoh make Joseph ruler? That he might gather the grain during 

the seven years of plenty to lay up in store against the seven years of famine. 
What did Pharaoh dream? About seven fat kine, or cows, and seven lean cows 

(G^n. xli). 
What did Joseph do with the grain he gathered during the seven years of plenty ? 

Put in great store houses. 
Why did his brothers come to Joseph in Egypt during the famine? That they 

might get food (Gen. xlii). 
Did his father, Jacob, and family go to live in Egypt? Yes. 
How old was Joseph when he died? no years (Gen. 1: 26). 
How long did Jacob's descendants remain in Egypt? A little more than two 

hundred years. 
Why did they desire to leave Egypt? Because of the oppressions and cruelty 

of Pharaoh (Ex. i: 8, 14). 
Whom did God raise up to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt? Moses. 
How long did they wander in the wilderness? Forty years. 



26 SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 

Was Moses permitted to enter the Promised Land? No. 

Who led the Children of Israel into the Land of Canaan, which was the Prom- 
ised Land? Joshua. 

How did the Children of Israel cross the Red Sea and the Jordan? The waters 
were divided and they crossed "dry shod." 

Who was the strongest man? Samson. 

Who was the meekest man? Moses. 

Who, as a ruler, was a man after God's own heart? David. 

Who built the Temple? Solomon. 

Who went to Heaven in a chariot of fire? Elijah. 

On whom did the mantle of Elijah fall? Elisha. 

Who was swallowed by the great fish? Jonah (Jonah i: 17). 

Who destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem and carried the Children of Israel 
into captivity? Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24, 25). 

Where did he take them? To Babylon (2 Kings 25). 

How long were they captive in Babylon? Seventy years. 

Who interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream? Daniel. 

How did Nebuchadnezzar reward Daniel? Made him ruler over Babylon (Dan- 
iel ii: 48, 49). 

What were the names of Daniel's three friends ? Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 

What heathen names were given them instead? Shadrach, Meshack and Abed- 
nego (Daniel i: 6, 7). 

What befell the three friends of Daniel? They were cast into the burning fiery 
furnace. 

Why were they cast into this furnace? Because they refused to fall down and 
worship a great golden image which Nebuchadnezzar, the King, had set up 
in the plain of Dura. 

Were they consumed in the furnace? No, God delivered them (Daniel iii). 

What befell Daniel years later, when Darius was King? He was cast into the 
den of lions (Daniel vi). 

Why was he cast into the den of lions? Because he prayed to the true God. 

Did the lions harm Daniel? No, God stopped the mouths of the lions and deliv- 
ered Daniel. 



The author's intense interest in the safeguarding and saving of the boys and 
girls from the evils which have wrought the ruin of such countless multitude*, 
prompts in connection with this introductory word, to call the special attention 
of the parents to an advertisement which has been placed at the close of this 
volume. 



Through Eye-Gate and Ear-Gate Into the City of 

Child-Soul 



THE OYSTER AND THE CRAB. 

CONSCIENCE. 

Suggestions to Parents: — It will awaken the curiosity and add greatly to 
the interest of the children if the parent will have them secure during the week 
preceding a couple of oyster shells. In most of cities and towns, these can be 
easily obtained. It is better for the children themselves to secure them, because 
it makes them participants and important factors in what is to be done. Do not 
tell them in advance what use is to be made of the oyster shells ; simply say that 
they are for use in connection with Sunday afternoon. 

Introduce the play idea from the beginning. Let the children arrange the 
chairs to "drive to church/' as shown in the preceding pictures. If there are two 
children who both want to do the driving, suggest that one can drive to church 
and the other can drive when returning from church — and a third may drive from 
the house to the stable when the horses are to be put away. 

At the church service let everything be done reverently, and make it a matter 
of real worship. One of the children can act as usher, and if there is but one 
child, this one can usher her dolls to seats ; or imaginary people may be shown to 
seats. All of this will appeal very strongly to the child. Select hymns suited to 
the children's tastes and such as they can sing. Do not sing too many verses. 
Children like variety. 

The service ought to be such as is in harmony with that regularly attended 
by the parents, and such as the children are familiar with. It may be as informal 
as the Salvation Army, or a greatly abridged form of the "Episcopal Service" can 
be used. The Lord's Prayer may be repeated in unison, or sentence prayers used, 
or a brief selection from the Prayer Book. The preaching by one of the children 
should precede the reading of the Object sermon. 

After carrying out the idea of the church service, the other ideas presented 
may be introduced, and after the imaginary drive home some simple refreshments 
can be served, as also mentioned in the chapter of "Suggestions to Parents" on 
page 17. 

27 



28 



THE OYSTER AND THE CRAB. 



M 



Y DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I want to speak to 
you to-day about "Having a good conscience." (I Peter 
1 6. ) This is rather a hard subject, but I desire to make 



in 




Oyster and Shell. 



it plain by the use of a familiar object. "What's this I 
have in my hand ?" I rather expected that you would say an oyster ; 
but, really it is 
nothing but an oys- 
ter shell. I sup- 
pose you have all 
eaten stewed oys- 
ters, or oyster broth. 
I remember, when 
a little boy, that 
one day when we 
had stewed oysters 
for supper, I found a little yellow something in my broth. I did not 
know whether my mother had put it in purposely, or whether it had 
fallen in by accident; whether I should push it aside of my plate, 
that it might be thrown with the crumbs to the chickens, or whether 

I should eat it to discover what it was. 

I suppose you have all seen these little 
animals in your soup, and know that they 
are called crabs. Now, do you know how 
the crab comes to be in with the oyster? I 
Little Crab. w ill tell you how it is. The oyster lives in 

the water at the bottom of the bay, and some bright day, when the 
sun is shining down genial and warm, just the same as in the sum- 
mer, we open the doors, and sit out on the porch to enjoy the cool 
of the day; so the oyster opens his shells and lets the cool 
currents of water move gently through his house. But while 




THE OYSTER AND THE CRAB. 



29 



lying there with his shells wide open, along comes a great 
hungry fish. He sees the oyster, but the oyster cannot see him. 
The oyster cannot see, for he has no eyes. He cannot hear, for he 
has no ears. Of the five senses which each of us have, hearing, 
seeing, smelling, tasting and feeling, the oyster can only tell of the 
presence of his enemy when he feels himself being dragged out of 




Fish Going to Eat the Oyster. 



his house, and being quickly swallowed by the fish. But his know- 
ledge of what is happening only comes when it is too late. 

Now, with the little crab, who also lives in the same neighbor- 
hood with the oyster, it is quite different. The crab has eyes, and 
can see the hungry fish that comes to eat him up. He has legs, with 
which to try and run away; but the fish can swim so much faster 
than the little crab can run that he is sure to be devoured before the 
race is half over. So what do you think the little crab does? He 
crawls along quietly, and creeps into the shell with the oyster, and 
the oyster and the crab enter into a kind of partnership for mutual 



30 THE OYSTER AND THE CRAB. 

protection. After this, when the oyster opens his shells, the little 
crab uses his eyes very diligently to look around, and watch for the 
approach of any fish. As soon as he spies any sly fish coming near, 
he pinches the oyster, and immediately the oyster closes his shells 
very tightly, and the oyster and the crab are both within, safely pro- 
tected from the fish. 

Now, boys and girls, we are something like the oyster. We 
are constantly exposed to the danger of being destroyed by sin. 
We cannot see sin, we cannot hear sin, we cannot perceive it by any 
of our senses. So God has given us a conscience, which means "to 
know with God." When you are tempted to do a sinful act, it is 
conscience that quickly whispers, "Now that is wicked," "If you do 
that, God will be displeased." 

Let me illustrate this thought. One real pleasant day, when 
the birds are singing, and everything is attractive out of doors, 
Johnnie thinks how hard it is to be studying his lessons in what he 
calls a prison of a school-room. He knows that papa and mamma 
will not give him permission to stay at home; so a little before nine 
o'clock, as he saunters towards the school, Satan suggests to him to 
play "hookey," and when he comes to the corner of the street, look- 
ing back to be sure that no one sees him, he turns the corner to remain 
out of school, intending to come home at the regular time for dinner 
and escape discovery. Just as soon as he turns the corner, and even 
before that, conscience has seen the danger, and whispers 
strong and clear, "Johnnie, this is wicked; you will surely get into 
trouble, and you will make papa and mamma sad, and also dis- 
please God." Now, if Johnnie does not turn right back when con- 
science warns him, he is sure to go on without having any pleasure 
all that forenoon, because his conscience continues to warn and 
reprove him. 

Or suppose that Willie goes down the street and sees Mr. 




"Willie is more frightened than the dog.' 



31 



32 THE OYSTER AND THE CRAB. 

Brown's dog a little ways off. He looks around quickly for a stone, 
and immediately conscience says, "Now, Willie, don't hit the poor 
dog, for the stone will cause him pain, just as it would if some one 
were to hit you with a stone." But Willie does not listen to con- 
science. He throws the stone with all his might. It strikes on the 
pavement, just by the side of the dog, glances and breaks in many 
pieces the large plate glass in the window of the drug store. 

Willie is more frightened than the dog, and without a mo- 
ment's forethought he runs around the corner, to get out of sight. 
And after concealing himself for a time in the alley, he steals 
quietly into the house at the back door. How he dreads to meet his 
father and mother. Every time the door bell rings he thinks surely 
that it is the druggist or the policeman. Oh ! how this sin pains him ; 
just like the oyster would be hurt if he does not heed the little crab, 
when he warns him that the fish is coming to destroy him. If 
Willie had only listened to conscience, what sin and trouble it 
would have saved him. So, boys and girls, God has given each of 
us a conscience, and if we want to be saved from sin and suffering, 
we should always be quick to obey our conscience. Let each of us 
try and "keep a good conscience." 

Questions. — Can the oyster see or hear? Can it feel? What often destroys 
the oyster? What lives down under the water near the oyster? Can the little 
crab see ? Can he get away from the fish ? How does he assist the oyster ? How- 
does he warn the oyster of danger? Can boys or girls see sin? What has God 
given each of us to warn us of danger when sin is near? Does every boy and 
girl have a conscience? Does conscience always give warning? Do boys and 
girls always obey their conscience? Should conscience always be obeyed? Will 
you always try to obey conscience in the future ? The parent may ask additional 
questions or make application in any other manner they deem best. 

Next Sunday the sermon will be about the worm in the apple. Let one of 
the children get a nice, large, perfect apple, and also another apple which has been 
dwarfed and deformed because of a worm inside the apple. These will be the 
objects which we shall use next Sunday. 



THE WORM IN THE APPLE. 

SIN IN THE HUMAN HEART. 

Suggestions to Parents: — The objects used to-day are a large perfect 
apple and a stunted, wormy apple. Have also a knife with which, at the proper 
time, to open the wormy apple. With these preparations made, let the children 
"drive to church" after the manner suggested for last Sunday. 

After the singing of a hymn or two, prayer and collection, let one of the 
children, in the manner of the preacher speaking to his audience, tell in his own 
way of the "Oyster and Crab" and of God's purpose in giving us a conscience, 
and let him or her draw the moral lessons and impress the spiritual truths. Even 
if it is done in but few words, or a faltering way, do not embarrass or discourage 
by criticisms. Speak words of encouragement. If preferred, the little sermon 
may be a presentation of the sermon preached by the pastor in the morning, or 
one child may present the object sermon of last Sunday and another child the 
sermon by the pastor in the morning. The more who take part, the better, as 
variety adds to the interest. 

Then gather the children around close so they can see the pictures as you 
read the following sermon. Have the apples at hand also for demonstration. 



THE object which I have chosen to-day, is one with which I 
am sure every boy and girl is thoroughly familiar. The 
moment you see it you recognize it. This large and beau- 
tiful apple is one of the most perfect of its kind, large in 
size, beautiful in color, and one which tempts the appetite of any 
one who is hungry. 

Now, boys and girls, I have here another object. Can you 
tell me what this is? I expected that you would say that it was an 
apple, and that is true. But you have not told me the whole truth 
concerning it. This is not only an apple, but it is a wormy apple. 
It did not grow as large as the other, and, by looking at the out- 
3 33 



34 THE WORM IN THE APPLE. 

side, I see that it is defective. It is stunted, like wormy apples quite 
universally are. You might think that the worm went into this 
apple because it was not full grown and strong and large, the same 
as it is sometimes thought that boys who have never improved their 
advantages, but have failed to become noble and good, therefore 
sin has entered their hearts. The truth is just the reverse; wicked- 
ness first possessed their hearts, and that has been the cause of their 
failure to improve their opportunities, and to become manly, and 
noble, and good, and kind. If they had first got the evil and sin 
out of their hearts, they would surely have stood a much better 
chance. They would have become Christians, and have grown up 
more and more like Christ, to be good, and kind, and generous, and 
useful. 

I want to ask you a question concerning this worm. But to be 
sure that we are not mistaken, let me take a knife and cut this apple 

in two, and see whether 
or not there is a worm 
inside. Just as I said, 
this is a wormy apple. 
It has evidently had 
two worms in it. Here 
is one of them, and the 

other has taken its de- 
parture. Now, boys 

and girls, I want to ask you, did this worm eat his way into the 
apple, or did he eat his way out of the apple? Quite as I antici- 
pated. I expected that you would say that he ate his way into 
the apple; but the fact is, he ate his way out of the apple. I am 
sure that you will ask immediately, at least in your minds, how 
then did he get in, if he ate his way out? I will tell you how it 
was. Early last spring, just after the apple trees had been in bios- 





THE WORM IN THE APPLE. 35 

som, and when this apple had just begun to form on one of the 
branches, there came along a bug and stung this apple, and depos- 
ited in the inside the germ of the worm. As the summer grew 
warmer, and the apple grew larger, the germ began to develop, 
until finally it grew into a 
worm. When it began to 
grow strong, it discovered 
that it was confined in the 
interior of something, and 
soon it began to eat, and 
continued until it ate its way 

f . . . Insect Stinging Bud. 

out or the apple. 1 his other 

worm, which still remained in, had continued to eat in the various 
portions of the apple, and possibly because of having less bodily 
vigor had concluded to remain there for a time, but you can see from 
the inside of the apple that it has done great injury, at the very core 
or heart, and I suppose that if it had been left to itself, in the course 
of a few days, or a few weeks at most, it also would have eaten its 
way out of the apple, in order to escape from its confinement. 

Now, boys and girls, this worm represents sin in the human 
heart, or wickedness possibly presents the thought better, and when 
you see a boy or girl doing wrong, they are simply giving outward 
expression to the wickedness which exists in their hearts. Boys 
are bad, not so much because the influences by which they are sur- 
rounded are bad, but because their hearts are sinful, and wicked, 
and bad. But I am sure that you will want to know how wicked- 
ness gets into the human heart. I will tell you how it is. Way 
back in the spring-time of the history of the human race, way back 
in the Garden of Eden, soon after God had created Adam and 
Eve, Satan came and inspired in the hearts of these first people 
the desire to disobey God. God told Adam and Eve that they 



36 THE WORM IN THE APPLE. 

should not eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree, and that when they 
did they would die, that is, they would be separated from God. 
Satan came and told them that they would not die, but that when 
they ate of the fruit of this tree they would become very wise. 
They believed Satan rather than God, and they did that which 
was wicked and wrong. And so throughout all the generations 
since, there has been that willingness to believe Satan and to do 
what he wants us to do, rather than to believe God and do what 
God would have us to do. 

Boys and girls who find themselves inclined to disobey their 
father or mother, to be disrespectful to those who are older than 
they, to do wrong on the Sabbath, to remain away from the Sun- 
day-school and church, and to enjoy the beautiful spring-day, by 
strolling through the fields or wandering through the woods, do 
so, not alone because the day is pleasant or because of the oppor- 
tunities from which others turn away, but because there is wicked- 
ness in their hearts. So when boys quarrel and fight, or steal, or do 
any other thing that is wrong, it is not so much the influences by 
which they are surrounded, the temptation from without, but the 
wickedness and the evil and the sinfulness which there is in the 
human heart, eating its way out through their heart into their lives, 
and deforming their lives, which otherwise would be upright, hon- 
orable and manly and Christ-like. I trust that when you are 
tempted to do wrong you will recognize the fact that there is evil in 
your heart, and that you will go to Jesus and earnestly pray Him to 
take away this evil out of your heart, and to give you a new, clean 
heart. Just the same as with these apples, if you had the privilege 
of choosing, I am sure you would prefer the large one, which has 
not been spoiled because of the destructive worm inside, so I trust 
you will choose to have the good heart, which God can give you, 
rather than the heart that has wickedness and sin within. If you 



THE WORM IN THE APPLE. 



37 



will go to God in prayer and ask Him, He will give you a good 
heart, a true heart, one that has no sin and no wickedness within. 

Questions. — Which is nicer, a big, red apple or a little stunted one ? What 
prevented the little apple from growing big and beautiful? When did the little 
worm get into the apple? If it had not been for the worm in the apple, would 
the apple have grown large and well formed? What causes boys and girls to 
desire to do wrong? Who tempted Adam and Eve to do wrong? Did they 
listen? Did they believe God or did they believe Satan? Are boys and girls 
still tempted to do wrong? Are they likely to yield to temptation? To whom 
should we go when we are tempted to do wrong? Who alone can cleanse our 
hearts from sin? Should we always go and ask God for strength when we are 
tempted ? Which would you choose, a good heart or a wicked heart ? 

Suggest to the children (or better still select one or have them select one) 
to procure for next Sunday some weeds that grow by the wayside and also a 
few cut flowers or potted plants. 

After "driving home" from church and after putting the horses away, 
which little action gives the children a few moments' diversion, then other 
methods contained in the chapter of "Suggestions to Parents" can be selected 
according to the age, intelligence and interest of the children. After this, re- 
freshments or whatever is best suited to the thought of the parents and the con- 
ditions of the household may be introduced. 




c«B' 



WAYSIDE WEEDS AND GARDEN FLOWERS. 

NEGLECTED VERSUS CHRISTIAN CHILDREN. 

Suggestions to Parents: — The objects to be used to-day are a bouquet of 
flowers or some potted plants and a bunch of weeds that grow by the wayside. 
These will illustrate the difference between neglected, untaught and undisci- 
plined children, and the children of a well trained household. Make the lesson 
impressive, so that the children will appreciate that the restrictions and discipline 
which are imposed upon them are all for their own good — that without these 
careful attentions they would grow up like the children in the slums. The 
neglected character of the clothing of undisciplined and uncared for children 
is only indicative of the minds and hearts and character of these children. 

Arrange the chairs, "drive to church''; let the ushers show the different 
real or imaginary persons to seats. Then let the hymn, prayer or "opening 
service" precede the "preaching" of the object sermon of last Sunday or the 
regular sermon at the morning church service by one or more of the children, 
after which a hymn may be sung, and the parent gather the children close so 
they can see the pictures, and read the following sermon on "Wayside Weeds 
and Garden Flowers." During the reading, or before, or after, let the children 
gain the impressive lessons from the colored picture which so beautifully illus- 
trates the sermon. 



THE land of Palestine, in which Jesus lived, has always 
been noted for its flowers. They grow everywhere in 
great abundance, and oftentimes in very great perfection 
and beauty. One time, when Jesus was preaching on the 
mountain, He used the flowers which were growing on the side of 
the mountain, to preach an object sermon to the multitudes about 
Him. He said, "Consider the lilies of the field; how they grow; 
they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that Solo- 
mon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." (Matt. 
38 




Wayside Weeds and Garden Flowers 



Copyrighted, 1911, by Sylvanus Stall. 



WAYSIDE WEEDS AND GARDEN FLOWERS. 41 

vi: 28, 29.) Let us to-day take the same object lesson, to set forth 
to our minds a clearer understanding of some truths, which are very 
important to every father and mother, as well as every boy and girl. 

As you see, I have here two bouquets. This, which I now 
hold in my hand, is indeed very beautiful. Here are some lovely 
roses, some tulips, some peonies. Here is a dahlia and heliotrope. 
Here are some tube roses, and a great variety of other flowers, 
which together constitute a very beautiful bouquet. 

Now, here is another bouquet. I see you smile, but indeed it 
is a bouquet. I spent a great deal of time gathering these flowers, 
at which you laugh. I sought them in such places as would afford 
the best varieties of these several kinds. 

Now, boys and girls, I want to ask you where these flowers 
grew? I will hold up this beautiful bouquet and ask the question. 
I know what will be your answer; you will say that I bought it 
from a man who keeps a hot-house, or that I gathered them in some 
flower garden which was very carefully tended ; and such, indeed, 
is the case. 

Now, I will hold up this other bouquet. Can you tell me 
where I gathered these? I did not think that you would have 
much difficulty in determining. I gathered them along the road- 
side, in the fields and in the woods. These flowers are what the 
farmer calls "weeds." Here is a rose with a single leaf that grew 
in a neglected corner, along the outskirts of a woods. It is a genu- 
ine rose, but it is by no means pretty, or at all to be compared with 
those in the other bouquet. 

I will tell you why there is such a difference in the appearance 
of these two bouquets. One grew in the garden, where it was pro- 
tected by a fence from being tramped upon. The weeds that 
grew about it were all pulled out of the ground, and the stalk upon 
which this flower grew was given a fair chance, so that it might 



42 WAYSIDE WEEDS AND GARDEN FLOWERS. 

grow successfully. The roots of the plants were carefully nour- 
ished, and whenever there was not sufficient rain the flowers were 
all watered, and thus the plants and flowers grew to their greatest 
perfection and beauty. 

Now, these other flowers which I gathered in the fields and 
along the roadside and in the woods, have had a hard time of it. 
In their growth they had to contend with other weeds. They 
have been tramped upon by the cattle. They have been scorched 
by the sun. And year after year they have grown in these 
neglected quarters with great difficulty, consequently they are 
stunted and have never attained any perfection or beauty. 

Do you know that these very beautiful flowers in this bouquet 
at one time grew just the same as the flowers in the other bouquet? 
But they were removed from the roadside, and from the fields and 
from the woods, and placed by themselves where they could be 
properly cared for and cultivated, and they grew more beautiful 
from year to year, until we have this present satisfactory result. 

Boys and girls are very much like flowers. Those who are 
neglected, who are permitted to walk the streets, to stroll along the 
roads and over the fields, to go along the streams fishing on Sun- 
day, instead of being in Sunday-school and in church, those who 
are permitted to run out at nights and play with all kinds of com- 
pany — these are the boys and girls who are like the flowers which 
grow by the roadside. Nothing very beautiful, or very good, or 
very perfect can reasonably be expected from them. 

This beautiful bouquet represents those boys and girls who 
have Christian fathers and mothers, who surround them by influ- 
ences which are well calculated to make them pure in thought and 
upright in life, so that they may grow up to be good Christian men 
and women. These flowers represent the boys and girls who grow 
up in the Sunday-school and in the Church, who give their hearts 



WAYSIDE WEEDS AND GARDEN FLOWERS. 43 

to the Lord Jesus Christ, and grow up into His likeness, and into 
His image, and into His stature, and become noble Christian men 
and women. 

When parents permit their children to run wild, they cannot 
expect them to grow up Christians. It is only by culture and edu- 
cation and Christian influences that they can be improved, so as to 
become honorable and upright. 

Nearly all the products of the field have been improved by 
cultivation, just the same as these flowers have been improved. 
Wheat in its native state, as it may still be found in France and 
Italy along the shores of the Mediterranean, was a stunted and 
straggling plant, with a small and inferior seed, but after long 
years of patient and continued cultivation, it has grown to its present 
plump and prolific proportions. All the beautiful fruits which now 
grow in our orchards were at one time unsightly and undesirable. 
The apple was small and sour, and unpalatable; but by pruning 
and grafting and fertilizing, it has grown to be not only beautiful 
to the eye, but delicious to the taste. The acrid and unwholesome 
berries, which formerly grew on the mountain ash, have been devel- 
oped into the sweet and juicy pear. By cultivation, the acrid and 
bitter sloe has grown into the beautiful plum. The same is also 
true of the potato, the turnip and the cabbage. 

Boys and girls can only be developed into useful men and 
women by the influence of the week-day and Sunday-school, the 
Christian home and the Church, by reading and studying the Bible 
and other good books. 

When you are restricted or corrected by your parents, you 
may oftentimes feel very much irritated and may feel rebellious, 
and may think that you do not have as many privileges or as much 
freedom as some of the other boys and girls whom you know. 
But you must remember that all this is done by your parents for 



44 WAYSIDE WEEDS AND GARDEN FLOWERS. 

your good, and later on in life you will see the value of it 
all and be very grateful to your parents for what they have 
done for you. 

When I was a boy, in the little village where I lived they 
organized a cannon company of six or eight boys, who were to 
accompany the men who went to other villages to listen to political 
speeches before elections, and then to march in a torch-light pro- 
cession. I was at that time a boy about twelve years old. I was 
asked to join. The boys were all to wear red blouses and red caps, 
and to my thought just then, nothing in the world was so much to 
be desired as the torch-light procession and the red blouse and cap, 
and to be permitted to march behind the drum and the fife, hauling 
the little cannon after us. 

I shall never forget how I cried and how ugly I felt toward 
my father when he would not let me be one of the cannon boys 
and wear a red blouse and a red cap. He said that at night I 
ought to be at home and in bed, and not be exposed to possible 
bad influences, the danger of catching cold and of other bad results 
which he could clearly see, but which I, at that time, thought were 
only imaginary. 

When I grew to be a man, I saw that my father was right, 
and later when at intervals I journeyed back to my boyhood home 
and visited the cemetery, I frequently placed one elbow on the 
tomb-stone of my father and the other elbow on the tomb-stone of 
my mother, and with my face buried in my hands thanked God 
that He had given me Christian parents who were wise and judi- 
cious enough not to let me have my own way in all things when I 
was a boy, but who had restricted me and guided me wisely and 
well. 

So, boys and girls, it will be with you when you have grown 
to the estate of manhood and womanhood. You will be, oh, so 



WAYSIDE WEEDS AND GARDEN FLOWERS. 



45 



thankful again and again that father and mother have oftentimes 
denied you things which you have most desired to have. 

Questions. — Which are the prettier, flowers which are neglected by the 
roadside, or those which are cultivated in the garden? Are boys and girls like 
flowers? Which boys and girls are the best, those who are neglected and not 
taught, or those who are cared for and carefully trained? Is it more pleasant 
for boys and girls to have their own way in everything, or would they prefer 
to be taught and trained by their parents? Which kind of flowers are the 
heathen boys and girls like? Can wild flowers be made more beautiful by care 
and cultivation ? Can the boys and girls in heathen lands be made like Christian 
boys and girls? What is necessary to effect this change? How can Bibles and 
missionaries be sent to them? Did the writer of this book want to have his own 
way when he was a boy? What did he want to be? What kind of a cap and 
blouse did he want to wear? When he became a man, was he thankful to his 
father for not allowing him to have his own way at that time? Will all good 
boys and girls, when they become men and women, be thankful to their parents 
for right training? 




The Cannon Boys.*' 



NUTS. 

GOD MEANS THAT WE MUST WORK. 

Suggestion: — The objects used are some nuts of various kinds. 

If the parent has not already familiarized himself with the different meth- 
ods of entertainment in connection with the reading of the object sermon to the 
children, he would do well to turn to the chapter on "Suggestions to Parents" 
on page 17 and introduce some one or more of the play ideas which have accom- 
plished so much of pleasure and profit in many homes. 

Arrange chairs and "drive to church," let the audience, both real and imag- 
inary be shown to seats, and after the opening service let one of the children 
in his or her own way present the lessons remembered from the sermon of last 
Sunday, or recast what was said by the pastor in his morning sermon. After 
the collection and singing, let the children "drive home" and let refreshments 
or some one of the Scriptural entertainments previously suggested round out 
the pleasure and profit of Sunday afternoon. 



N 



OW, boys and girls, I have here some hickory nuts, wal- 
nuts, butternuts, chestnuts, and filberts, or hazel nuts as 
they are sometimes called, and I want to tell you some- 
thing that I suppose God means to teach us by these nuts. 




Nuts. 

Many people remember that when Adam and Eve were 
driven out of Eden, God told them that "In the sweat of thy face 
46 



NUTS. 47 

shalt thou eat bread" (Gen. iii: 1 9) , and also that God drove them 
out of the garden to "till the ground from whence man was taken." 
(Gen. iii : 23.) On this account some people suppose that if Adam 
and Eve had not sinned it would never have been necessary for us 
to work, but that is a mistake. If you turn to the second chapter of 
Genesis, in the fifteenth verse, you will find that it says, "The Lord 
God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress 
it and to keep it." So you see that Adam was required to work, 
even before the fall. Of course his work was not as severe as it was 
after he was driven out of Eden and his labor brought him a richer 
fruitage. 

Now, what do these nuts teach us? I think that most all boys 
and girls like to eat hickory nuts and butternuts, and chestnuts and 
filberts, and indeed all kinds of nuts. But did you ever stop to 
think that God has made it necessary that we should crack the shell 
before we can eat the kernel that is inside? God has purposed to 
teach us that labor is necessary before we can eat even of that which 
He gives us, so on the outside of this desired food he places the 
shell, in some instances hard and difficult to be broken, in order to 
teach us that labor is necessary before we can eat of His gifts. 

Now the same thing is true with regard to the grain that grows 
in the field. No one ever saw potatoes grow without being planted 
and cultivated. Rye and oats and wheat do not grow wild. Weeds 
will grow without being sown or planted, but grain and vegetables 
not only have to be planted, but have to be taken care of. Possibly 
you might think that my statement was not wholly correct, because 
we go out into the orchard and gather apples and pears and peaches, 
and other kinds of fruit which have no hard shells on them, and 
which do not have to be planted in the spring of the year. But do 
you know that we could not gather this kind of rich fruit from the 
trees unless trees of these kinds had been cultivated for long cen- 



48 



NUTS. 



turies, grafted and developed so as to produce the rich fruit which 
is now placed upon our tables? So you see that even this has cost 
labor, and if we were to neglect the trees in the orchard, it would 
only be a few years until they would produce only a very small 
variety of fruit, and even that would be sour and have an unpleasant 
taste. 

But God means to teach us this lesson also in another way. 
Man has found it very necessary to use the different kinds of metals, 

iron and copper, sil- 
ver and gold. God 
has not laid these 
metals on top of the 
ground, but has 
made it necessary 
that we should dig 
down into the earth 
and secure these 
metals at the cost of 
a great deal of labor. 
The same is also 
true with regard to 
the coal and the oil, 

Apple Tree. anc | a H ^ r J c h m J n- 

eral products with which God has blessed us. None of them can 
be secured without labor. 

We are all naturally lazy. I have oftentimes thought that we 
are all born lazy. Some learn to be industrious with less effort, but 
all have to be taught to work. God means that we should work. 
Have you ever thought that God could feed us without our labor 
if He chose to do so? He could rain down our food from heaven, 
just the same as He gave manna to the Children of Israel, while 




NUTS. 49 

they were journeying to the promised land. He could not only feed 
us, but He could also clothe us from heaven. I am sure that if God 
gave us our clothing from heaven, He would not make such foolish 
fashions as wicked people over in Paris invent, and which all the 
rest of the world seem to think they have to imitate. Not only our 
food and clothing, but God could also have made it necessary that 
there should be no preachers. Instead of giving us His Word in the 
Bible, and then asking us to go into all the world and to preach it 
to all creatures, He might have used the stars at night, just the same 
as the printer uses the different kinds of type and prints the letters 
and words upon the page; so God could have used the stars in order 
to write His law upon the heavens in a universal language that 
would be known by all peoples, and so at night, and even in the 
daytime, people could look up into the heavens and read God's law. 
Thus it would have been unnecessary ever to have printed Bibles, 
or to send preachers to preach. The cost of building churches and 
supporting ministers would thus have been unnecessary, but God 
does not do things in that way. Lazy people might desire that 
things were arranged in this way, but God has seen fit to make it 
very different. 

But why do you think that God means that you and I should 
learn to work? There are two or three good reasons which I can 
think of. We are so constituted that no one can be in good health 
for any considerable period without physical exertion, and so you 
see that if we want to be well — and no one can be happy who is 
not well — it is necessary that we should learn to work. You will 
always find that lazy people who eat a great deal suffer many phy- 
sical ailments. They are always complaining, and I think you will 
always find that they really are sick, but they could be well if they 
would only go to work as God meant they should. 

Then there is another reason. An idle man is always a dis- 



50 NUTS. 

satisfied man. A boy or girl with nothing to do is sure t© 
be unhappy. If we desire to be happy and contented we must learn 
to work. 

But there is also another reason. Our spiritual well-being also 
renders it necessary that you and I should have something to do. 
Work is really one of Gods greatest blessings, and we are told that 
those who are idle tempt Satan to tempt them. I do not believe that 
an idle person can be a good Christian. An idler is of no use either 
in the world or in the church. God can make no use of him, and 
Satan must surely despise him also. 

So if you desire to be delivered from sickness and to remain 
well and strong, if you desire to be contented and happy, if you 
desire to be good and useful, if you desire to be helpful in the great 
purpose for which God has created you and placed you upon this 
earth, you must learn to work, and the best time to learn to work is 
when we are young. We are to learn to labor with our hands, with 
our minds, always remembering that whatsoever we do, we are to do 
all to the glory of God. 

Now let us all join in singing, 

"Work, for the night is coming." 

Questions. — Did God assign some work to Adam when he was first cre- 
ated? What was he to do in the Garden? Why does God place the kernel of 
nuts inside of a shell? Do vegetables and grain grow without being planted? 
Will weeds grow without being planted? Why did God place the metals, and 
coal and oil down below the surface of the ground? Are we naturally indus- 
trious or lazy ? Could God clothe and feed us without our labor ? Why does He 
not do it? How could God have printed His law so that it would not be neces- 
sary to have Bibles and preachers? Are idle people healthy and contented? 
Why not? Whom do idle people tempt? Can an idle person be a good Chris- 
tian? When is it easiest to learn to work? What should we always remember 
in our work? 



BANKS. 

GATHERED AND GUARDED TREASURES. 

Suggestions : — Objects for use : A child's bank and a metal kettle of any kind 
to show how people used to place their money in boxes, kettles, etc., and then 
bury them in the ground. 

Use the methods suggested in the preceding sermons. Examine the chapter 
on "Suggestions to Parents" and introduce new features from Sunday to Sunday. 
Children like variety. 



M 



Y DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: What is this I hold 
in my hand? (Voices: "Bank, penny bank, money 



bank.") Yes, you 
are right, this is a 
bank, and I suppose many of 
you, perhaps all of you either 
now, or at some past time have 
had such a place to deposit your 
money. 

In the time of Christ the 
children did not have little 
banks like these. Even the big 
people did not have banks 
where they could deposit their 
money. When they had jew- 
els or money they would place 
them in a box, or a copper kettle, 
and bury them in the earth. 
They would hide them away 




A Penny Bank. 



51 



52 BANKS. 

from other people, and thus seek to secure them for themselves. 
In that period of the world, there were many thieves and robbers; 
Palestine was often invaded by hostile armies; there were occa- 
sional earthquakes, which destroyed whole cities, and so the peo- 
ple used to bury their money for safe keeping. After burying it, 
sometimes they were killed in war, or perhaps died suddenly, 
before they had time to tell anybody where they had concealed 
their money, and on this account all over that land there were 
buried treasures, or "hid treasures" as they are called, and to-day 
if you were to go to Palestine you would see many people digging 
here and there everywhere to find money or treasures that have 
been hidden away for long centuries. Even in the time of Job 
people must have dug for treasures, as they are doing in Palestine 
to-day, for Job says of the miserable and unhappy, that they often 
"long for death, and dig for it, more than for hid treasures." (Job 
Hi: 21.) 

It is altogether right for you to economize and save your 
pennies. I hope every boy and girl will have a little bank, but 
while you are learning to save, you should also learn to give to 
every good cause, to give in Sunday-school and to give for the 
support of the Church, for missions, and to give to assist the aged 
and the poor, and to contribute something for those who are in pov- 
erty and in distress. If you simply learn to save, or hoard up 
money, and do not learn at the same time to give, you will become 
what people call "a miser," and that word means miserable. 
Misers are always miserable, not because they do not already have 
sufficient, but because there is so much more that they desire. They 
always wish for more. 

But while you are learning to save money and to gather treas- 
ures here upon the earth, you must not forget that the Bible says, 
that we are to lay up for ourselves "treasures in heaven, where moth 




Hiding Treasures in the Earth. 



53 



54 BANKS. 

and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves do not break through 
nor steal." It says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His 
righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." God 
means that first of all you and I shall give our hearts to Him, and 
then afterward, in all our getting, we should constantly remember 
that we are only stewards of God — that is, that all the money and 
everything else we possess in this world belongs to God. He sim- 
ply permits us to have it and to use it in His name, and we must 
honor and reverence Him by giving to help on every good work. 

Now, after we have given our hearts to God, and have 
become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to lay up our 
treasures in heaven by living right, by seeking to be good, and by 
doing good to others. We are to lose no opportunity to do that 
which will be a blessing to those about us. 

One of the boys or girls said this was a penny bank. That 
name is very suggestive. A bank is a place where you deposit 
money. Now, if you have a bank like this, do you only 
put into it silver dollars, five-dollar bills, ten-dollar gold pieces? 
Jf each boy who is here were to wait until he had a ten- 
dollar gold piece, or a five-dollar bill, or until he had come into 
possession of a silver dollar before he placed any money in his 
bank, I am sure his bank would always remain empty. The way 
to fill a bank is to put pennies in it — to save each cent and each five- 
cent piece. To-day a penny, and to-morrow a few pennies, and so 
on through the week, and through the year, and at the end of the 
year you will find that you have saved quite a goodly sum. 

Now, there are some people who want to lay up treasures in 
heaven, but they do not want to lay it up there, little by little. 
They prefer to wait until some opportunity comes when they can 
do a great deal of good at one time. But the person who does not 
do good every day and every hour, little by little, will never have 



BANKS. 55 

any treasure in heaven. It is the pennies that make the dollars; 
it is the "many mites that make the muckle." It is the constant 
doing of little things, for the glory of God and the good of others, 
that makes a man great. Great men are great in little things, and 
if you desire to be great men and great women, you must always 
use the little opportunities, and use them well. Lay up treasure 
in heaven, each and every day, just the same as, day after day, 
you would save your pennies, and thus fill your banks. If you 
want a large treasure in heaven you must constantly be engaged in 
laying up your treasure there. Never lose an opportunity to do 
good, and in this way you will have an abundant treasure in 
heaven. 

Questions. — Where do people put money for safe keeping? Is it only- 
silver and gold which is put into a bank? Do thieves ever break into banks? 
Can any treasure be laid up in the earth where it is absolutely safe ? Where does 
the Bible tell us we are also to lay up treasure ? When boys and girls are obedi- 
ent, is that laying up treasure in heaven? Does being great in little things make 
a great man or a great woman ? Should boys and girls learn to save their money ? 
What would they be called if they spent all their money? What would they be 
called if they hoarded up all they could get? Should we always use all our 
money in the fear of God? 

After the conclusion of the services and after "driving home from church", 
introduce some other interesting features so as to make the day sacredly 
impressive. 




c>va 



THE CHART. 

AVOIDING THE DANGERS. 

Suggestions: — Objects: A geography, or detached maps will serve to show- 
that the portions of the earth which are under the water are quite like the por- 
tions of the earth which are above the water. Islands are only mountain sum- 
mits or elevations. 

"Drive to church", have the ushers show different real or imaginary persons 
to seats, have the little sermon and service precede the reading of the following 
object sermon. 

MY LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: We are all trav- 
elers. Now when a traveler starts out upon a journey he 
always desires to have in his possession one of these 
things which I hold in my hand. I know you will 
recognize it at once, and say that it is a map. This map tells you 
the name of the country; it shows you where there are mountains, 

where there are rivers, where 
there are valleys, where 
there are cities, and shows 
you the entire United States 
of America. In traveling 
through a strange country, if 
you do not have a map, you 
might be lost upon the moun- 
tains, or your journey would 
be obstructed by the rivers 
which you could not cross, and in various ways you would find it 
absolutely necessary to have a map. 
56 




Outline Map of the United States. 



THE CHART. 57 

Now, when a traveler goes out upon the sea, it is just as neces- 
sary that he should have a map, or what the sailors call a chart, as 
it is for the traveler upon the land. The chart which the sea captain 
has, shows the mountains and the valleys and the rivers which are 
in the sea; for these exist in the sea, as well as upon the land. The 
rocks, against which ships are sometimes dashed to pieces, are sim- 
ply the tops of high mountains that come very near to the surface 
of the sea; and the captain without a chart, not knowing where 
they are, is likely to run against them with his ship. The islands 
are simply the tops of these mountains, that rise higher above the 
water, and form a place of abode for man; and we call them 
islands, because they are very much smaller than the great conti- 
nents on which you and I live. 

A chart of the sea always locates the dangerous places. They 
show where other ships have been foundered, and oftentimes where 
hundreds and thousands of lives have been lost. It also shows 
what are really rivers in the sea, or great currents, one of which we 
call the Gulf Stream. When a ship is crossing the Gulf Stream 
the motion or current of this water might carry it many hundreds of 
miles out of its course, and if the captain had no chart he would 
not be able to allow for this distance, which the ship is being car- 
ried, either north or south. 

Now, you and I are travelers in this world. We are out upon 
a great voyage, and it is necessary that we should have a chart, and 
therefore God has given us the Bible, which you and I can use 
greatly to our advantage. In the Bible, God has pointed out the 
dangers which lie like the hidden rocks under the surface of the 
sea. In the commandments God marks out the great dangers which 
beset you and me. There is the rock of Idolatry. Whole nations 
of the earth have been wrecked on this rock. Then there is 
another, Profanity, swearing: Oh! how many boys and men are 



58 



THE CHART. 



ruined because they do not observe how God has marked this dan- 
gerous rock, against which no one can run without danger of losing 
his immortal soul. Then there is Sabbath breaking, another rock; 
and there is reverence due to parents; and God marks another, 
"Thou shalt not kill"; and then there are others, against stealing, 




Rocks and Mountains at the Bottom of the Sea. 



against bearing false witness, against covetousness. All these dan- 
gerous rocks God has marked in the Bible, in order that you and I 
may not run against them, and thus be shipwrecked in our voyage 
to the haven of everlasting rest. 



THE CHART. 59 

God also marks the influences which you and I must come in 
contact with. Every boy who goes to school feels the influence of 
other boys, some of whom are very bad. If he permits himself to 
be moved by these things he will go wrong, just the same as the 
ship that is crossing the Gulf Stream is carried out of its course. So 
the Bible warns us against bad company. 

Now the chart which the sea captain has, indicates also the 
ports of safety. It shows the location of these different ports, and 
the direction the captain must take in order to reach them. So the 
Bible shows us where you and I can find refuge in the day of 
storm, and in the day of trial, and in the day of sickness, and in the 
day of distress. To the sea captain, out upon the great ocean, there 
are ten thousand directions which are sure to end in shipwreck. 
There is only one safe way to go, in order to reach his desired port 
in safety. 

Now what would you think of a captain out upon the seas 
who folded up his chart and laid it carefully away, and never 
looked at it, never studied it, never sought to know what is on the 
chart? Do you not see how he would go upon the rocks? His 
ship would go down to the bottom of the sea, just as surely as if he 
had no chart on board his ship. It is important that he should have 
his chart in constant use. So it is important, not only that we should 
have the Bible, but that we should use the Bible, that we should 
read it, that we should study it, that we should know what it says. 
I trust that each and all of you not only have a Bible, but that you 
study it daily, and that you seek to avoid the dangers which God 
has pointed out, and that you desire to know the will of God con- 
cerning you. 

Questions. — What should a traveler always have in a strange country? 
What must a sea captain always carry with him on his ship? What does the 
chart show? Are we travelers? To what country are we journeying? Has 



60 



THE CHART. 



God given us a chart to show the dangers to which we are exposed in our 
voyage or journey? Should we read the Bible every day? What are two prin- 
cipal parts of the Bible? Do you know how many books there are in the Old 
Testament? Do you know how many books there are in the New Testament? 
Do you know who was the first man? Who was the first woman? Who was 
the first murderer? Who built the ark? Who had the coat of many colors? 
Who led the Children of Israel out of Egypt? Who was put in the lion's den? 

After the entire service has been completed and after the "drive home from 
church", chairs can be arranged with their backs toward each other, set a little 
way apart, with a shawl, blanket, or even a sheet, thrown over them so as to 
form a little tent. A number of tents can be made to illustrate the Children of 
Israel camping in the wilderness. They were travelers tenting by the way, who 
forgot about their chart and fell into sin, and God had to turn them back in the 
wilderness for forty years of wandering. All this suggests important lessons to 
the parents. 

A series of tents can be arranged like the one shown in the picture below 
(see also page 74) and then, with one child in each tent the questions can be 
asked. When a child fails to give the correct answer, he moves down to the last 
tent in the row, the other children move up, and the question is passed to the 
child next in order, the same as in a "spelling-bee" and other progressive plays. 
Questions like those given on this page and on pages 25 and 26 can be used; 
also questions such as are found in the chapter on "Suggestions to Parents," 
especially from paragraphs 50 onward. 




The Children of Israel Camping in the Wilderness. 



THE ANCHOR. 



HOPE THAT LAYS HOLD OF CHRIST. 



Suggestions: — Object: Anchor of any kind. One cut from) paste-board 
would answer. During the week the little ones might be interested to cut out 
both anchor and the chain, using paste-board. 

Before reading the following sermon, "drive to church" and after the 
audience has been shown to seats, begin the service with singing, have the 
regular prayer and have one of the children preach over the sermon at the 
church in the morning or the object sermon of last Sunday. 



M 



Y DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I want to talk to you 
to-day about a very important subject. The Bible 
speaks of hope, and says, 



"Which hope we have 
as an anchor of the soul, both sure 
and steadfast, and which entereth 
into that within the veil." (He- 
brews vi: 19.) 

I suppose most of you have 
been on board a ship or large boat. 
Very near the bow, or front end of 
the boat, you have doubtless noticed 
a chain, at the end of which was an 
anchor, made in the form of this one 
which I hold in my hand. Now, I 
would not care to go out to sea on 
any ship which did not have an an- 
chor on board. In crossing the 




The Anchor. 



61 



62 THE ANCHOR. 

Atlantic you may sometimes be out for days and weeks, and some- 
times even for months, and have no need of using the anchor. But 
all the time, while the weather is pleasant and everything is moving 
along prosperously, the fact that the anchor is on board the ship and 
that it can be used in time of danger, gives a sense of security to all 
the passengers. If it were not there you would constantly fear, lest 
the storms or fog might come when your ship was near land or 
dangerous rocks or shoals, and then your ship might be lost with its 
many hundreds of lives on board, simply because it had no anchor. 

Every man and woman, and every boy and girl, needs to have 
hope as an anchor to his soul. We should have faith in God, and 
then at times when all is well, when we are prosperous and blest, 
and everything goes along like the ship in pleasant weather, we 
will constantly have peace and rest in our minds and hearts, because 
we know that our hope is staid on God, and that though the world 
be removed, yet God will not disappoint us. 

Some people seem to think that religion is a good thing to 
have when they get sick, or when adversity or sorrow or great 
affliction comes. But the fact is that religion is a necessary thing 
at all times. We need it when we are well and strong, as well as 
when we are sick and weak. We need religion in this world to 
live by, as well as to die by, as well as for our salvation in the 
world to come. 

The anchor is very serviceable indeed in time of storm. Often 
it has to be used in order to secure the ship and save the lives of all 
who are on board. If it were not for the anchor the ship might be 
thrust upon the rocks, or it might be dashed to pieces by the waves 
that break upon the coast. The anchor is oftentimes very service- 
able. So it is with the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. When 
trials and perplexities and adversities come, as they do in every life, 
then it is that this anchor is a source of very great blessing, because 



THE ANCHOR. 63 

it saves from shipwreck, occasioned by unbelief and the perplexi- 
ties into which those are cast who have no hope, or trust in God. 

To be serviceable the anchor must take hold of something. 
If it simply drags along it will not hold the ship; but the ship may 



Anchor Laying Hold of the Rocks. 



go to pieces on the rocks, even though it has an anchor, which has 
already been cast over. Now in time of sorrow and perplexity or 
distress every one throws out an anchor. That is, he tries to take 
hold of something which will sustain him and keep him, just the 



64 THE ANCHOR. 

same as a boy who falls into the water would grab after a board. 
They say that a drowning man will even grasp after a straw in 
order to help to support his body, so that he may save his life. So 
every one in perplexity reaches out to lay hold of something. But 
the text which I quoted in the beginning says that this hope which 
we have as an anchor to the soul lays hold of something, and that 
something is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is like the ship whose anchor 
goes down, far below the waves, deep down out of sight, and lays 
hold of the rocks which form the foundation of the earth. So the 
faith of the Christian is staid, not on things which are seen, but on 
the things which are not seen. As the text expresses it, it lays hold 
of those things "which entereth into that which is within the veil." 
That is, this figure refers to the Temple at Jerusalem, where the 
Holy of Holies was concealed from the rest of the Temple by a 
large curtain or veil, and no one was permitted to go into this Holy 
of Holies except the High Priest, and he but once a year. But 
when you and I have the faith of the Christian, although we may 
not be able to enter into the great mystery of God's grace and mercy, 
yet our faith lays hold of that which is beyond our understanding, 
and beyond our possibility to see or fully to comprehend, and thus 
our faith lays hold of that which is "within the veil." With our 
understanding, you and I cannot enter into the mysteries of God, but 
by faith we can enter into them. I trust that every boy and girl 
here will have that faith in God, which will be as an anchor to 
his soul, sure and steadfast, entering within the veil at all times. 

I will tell you how this anchor of faith and hope can be of 
service to you. There are times when you see other boys and girls 
who have many more comforts and luxuries and possessions than 
you have. You may even be discouraged sometimes because you 
think your lot in life is more than usually hard and difficult. 

When I myself was a boy, my father died, and only three 



THE ANCHOR. 65 

years later my mother died. I was left an orphan and without a 
home. I had to become an errand boy in a store, and for a number 
of years I had a hard struggle. I was a Christian boy, and I had 
this anchor of faith and hope. I trusted in God that He would 
make all of these things to work out eventually for my good. I 
could not at that time understand how. It was beyond my under- 
standing, but later on in life I found how all the trials and strug- 
gles of my earlier years had worked together for my good. I 
understood that passage of Scripture which says: "All things work 
together for good to them that love God." (Romans viii: 28.) 

So, when you see others who have it easier and who have more 
comforts and luxuries than you have, if you have this hope which 
the text speaks of as "laying hold within the veil" be sure that 
in God's own good time, in His infinite wisdom and love, He will 
work out for you also the blessing and the good which you can 
only hope for, but which at the present time you can neither see nor 
understand. 

Questions. — What does every ship carry? Would a ship be safe without 
an anchor? When the anchor is let down into the deep water, must it take 
hold of something? When is the anchor used? If a ship did not have an 
anchor in time of storm along the rocky coast, would it be safe? Do men and 
women, boys and girls, also need an anchor? Can we have peace and happiness 
without hope? Is religion necessary only when we are in trouble? On what 
does hope lay hold? Can we see the things on which the Christian's faith 
lays hold? Can we always understand God's providences? Did the writer 
of this book have trials when he was a boy? Could he understand them 
then? Did he understand them later on in life? Do all boys and girls have 
trials? If received in the proper spirit, will they always work out for their 
good? 



HUSKS. 

THE DISAPPOINTED PLEASURE-SEEKER. 

Suggestion : — If the children can obtain some of the pods which are called 
"husks" in the Scripture, which can be had in some towns and cities, and which 
the children usually call "Johnny-bread" they will be able to taste the husks 
which the prodigal fed to the swine and which he himself desired to eat. If 
these cannot be had, the pods from the sweet locust tree will be serviceable. 



I HOLD in my hand what I suppose most of you have seen, 
and perhaps many of you have eaten. It is what boys often- 
times call "Johnny bread." It 

looks very much like the long 
pods which grow on the honey 
locust trees. It is sometimes called 
"Johnny bread," because some peo- 
ple mistakenly think that this was the 
kind of locust that John the Baptist 
ate when he came in the Wilderness, 
preaching that the kingdom of 
heaven was at hand and that men 
should repent. We are told in the 
Scriptures that he ate locusts and 
wild honey. The locusts which he 
ate were very much like our grass- 
hoppers, such as are still eaten by 
very poor people in the East. Husks. 

In the 1 5th chapter of the gospel by St. Luke, we have a very 
66 




HUSKS. 67 

beautiful parable, called the parable of the prodigal son. In con- 
nection with the husk which I hold in my hand, I want to tell you 
something about this prodigal son. 

In this parable Jesus tells of a very kind father who had two 
sons, but the younger son was dissatisfied and discontented. He 
was a boy very much like many who live in this country and at this 
time. He was a boy who wanted to have his own way. He 
thought that his father was an "old fogy." The son wanted gay 
company and gay clothing. He wanted to travel and see some- 
thing of the world; so he asked his father to give him the money 
which would come to him at his father's death, in order that he 
might go immediately and have his own way, and have a good 
time, as he supposed. 

His father was very sad, for he had tried to bring up his boy in 
the right way. But when he could not prevail upon him, and his 
son would not listen to him any longer, but insisted upon having 
the money, and going away from home, the father granted his 
request. 

When the money had been counted out, the son gathered it 
all up, bade his father and brother and all his friends good-bye, 
telling them what a happy time he was going to have, and started 
out for a far country. 

This same desire to see something of the world has induced 
many boys to run away from home. Many years ago, when there 
were numerous ships that went out on long voyages to catch whales, 
oftentimes boys who had run away from home went away to sea 
with these ships. Now, however, restless and discontented boys, 
who have read worthless and deceptive books, sometimes go to live 
a wild life on the plains in the West. Sometimes boys even 
become tramps. Scores and sometimes hundreds of them can be 
met any week by going to the Breakfast Association, in Philadel- 



68 HUSKS. 

phia; or some of the Rescue Homes, in New York, where poor, 
wandering boys and tramps are given a free meal on Sunday morn- 
ing or Sunday evening. Prodigals now, as in the time when Christ 
lived, have a very hard time of it. They start out with high hopes, 
sometimes with money in their pockets, with fine clothing and 
bright anticipations, expecting to have a good time in the far coun- 
try which they are seeking. But their experience is always the 
same. 

When this prodigal came to the far country, for a few weeks, 
or possibly a few months, he had plenty of money. He thought 
his money would always last. Bad men and women gathered 
around him, for they all wanted to enjoy what his money would 
secure for them. But it didn't take long; his money was soon 
spent, and when his money was gone his pretended friends were 
gone also. He soon found himself penniless, friendless and hun- 
gered. He had to go out and seek for work. Perhaps he had 
been too much indulged at home. He had never learned a trade, 
and possibly had never learned to do work of any kind, and so 
there was nothing for him to do but to accept the humblest and 
meanest kind of labor. He was a Jew, and for a Jew to tend swine 
or hogs was one of the meanest things in all the world. And yet 
he was willing because of his poverty and his want, to do even this 
most degrading service. This boy who wanted to be his own 
master, now became the most menial of slaves, even to the tending 
of swine. He wanted gay company, but he had only pigs for his 
companions. He wanted wine and feasting, but now no one even 
offered him husks to eat. He left his home to seek happiness, but 
he found only misery. 

These husks which I showed you, which some boys call 
"Johnny bread," are exactly what this wayward, disappointed, 
disheartened, hungry boy was given to feed to the swine which he 




The Disappointed, Hungry Prodigal Tending Swine. 



69 



70 HUSKS. 

was hired to tend. He was so hungry that he would have been 
glad to eat these husks with the pigs, but no one gave him any to eat. 

When this wayward boy was thus brought down to poverty 
and hunger in that far-off country, while he was tending the swine, 
he began to think. If he had only stopped to think before he left 
his home, he would never have started away. He would surely 
have known that he was better off at home than anywhere else. 
But now that misery and want had come to him, we are told that 
"he came to himself." That is, he came to his senses. It was sen- 
timent which led him from his home. It was sense that brought 
him back. The trouble with boys and girls, and with older people 
too, is that they do not stop to think. They follow their fancies 
and sentiments, and they are led astray in this way. 

God wants us to stop and think, and He says, "Come, let us 
reason together." God does not ask any unreasonable thing of us. 
He simply wants to treat us as thoughtful beings, but we want to 
follow our own inclination and our own desire. God treats us very 
kindly. He gives us every needed comfort and every daily blessing, 
and yet oftentimes people are discontented and dissatisfied with 
God; they complain and think they have a hard time of it. Instead 
of being faithful and true to God, they turn away from him. They 
desire to forsake God and serve Satan. They desire to accept 
what Satan says, and so turn away from God and all that is good. 
But they have the same experience over and over again that this 
young man had. He went out with fine clothes and plenty of 
money, and with high hopes; but he returned home in rags, without 
a penny in his pocket, disappointed, penitent and ashamed. 

But I must not forget to tell you, that when he had journeyed 
many a week, toiling wearily over the long road that had separated 
him from his father's house, at last he came near his old home. In 
going away he had nearly broken his father's heart. With sorrow 




Copyrighted, 1911, by Sylvanus Stall. 



The Returning Prodigal 



HUSKS. 73 

he was bringing his aged father down to the grave. But his father 
still loved his wayward boy, and expected him home. As he sat 
watching at the door looking over the hills, he saw the returning 
prodigal when he was yet a great way off. This loving and for- 
giving father had compassion upon his son, ran and fell upon his 
neck and kissed him, and welcomed him back home again. The 
wayward boy's heart was all broken up by such kind treatment. He 
fell upon his knees at his father's feet and said to his father, "Father, 
I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more 
worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants." 

But the father called his servants and commanded them to 
bring the best robe and put it upon this boy who had given him so 
much sorrow; to bring the ring and put it upon his finger; and then 
to kill the fatted calf, so that they might make a great feast, in order 
that all might be made very glad, because this his son, who was 
dead, was alive again, he who had been lost was found. 

So when we come back to God after we have sinned against 
Him, and are repentant and sorry for what we have done, in love 
and great tenderness He forgives our sins. And like the prodigal, 
in the time of his sorest misery, found in his father's heart the great- 
est mercy, so you and I may come to God knowing that in the day 
of our dire distress He is always willing to love us and to forgive us 
as His own dear children. Let us be careful not to sin against Him, 
and then we shall not have the humiliation and the sorrow of com- 
ing back, like this poor prodigal, when he returned in rags and 
poverty to his father's house. Never make the mistake of going 
away from your God and then you will not have the remorse which 
will bring you back in sorrow and shame. 

Questions. — Who first told the parable of the prodigal son? Why did the 
prodigal leave his home? What did he do with his money? Did his pretended 
friends stay by him after his money was gone? In his poverty what did he do? 



74 



HUSKS. 



Did he have enough to eat? When he was in want and came to himself, of 
whom did he think? What did he resolve to do? What do boys who run 
away from home generally become? Are tramps happy? Was the father 
sad all the time the boy was away ? How did he receive the returning prodigal ? 
Does God love us even though we do wrong? Will God forgive us and accept 
us? Is God glad when we repent? 

After "driving home from church" a series of tableaux could be arranged: 
(i) Showing the father counting out the money to the boy. (2) The boy 
bidding good-bye to his father and friends. (3) Surrounded by flatterers for 
whom he is spending his money. (4) In poverty tending swine. (5) In rags 
returning home. (6) Being welcomed by his father. 

Or the children may arrange a tent in which the prodigal is presumed to 
live on the plains while tending the swine, which may be represented by a 
series of books, toys or any objects; for the imagination of the children will 
convert any object into any other object, person or thing. 




The Prodigal's Tent. 



IRON— LOW GRADE AND HIGH GRADE. 

CHARACTER AND WORTH. 

Suggestion: — 'Objects used: A piece of old iron, some nails, broken clock 
and watch springs, and also a piece of native iron ore, if convenient. 

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: I want to show you 
to-day that there is a great difference in the value of 
things, even though they are made of the same material. 
In the second chapter of Genesis we are told, "And the 
Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." So, you see 
that all men and women are 
made of the same material, 
yet men differ greatly, both in 
character and works. 

I have here some iron 
ore, some old iron, some nails; 
here are some clock springs, 

, . • r * ron Products. 

and here are some springs ot 

watches. This iron ore is as it is dug from the earth. It is called 
the native iron, but mixed with it there is much earth and stone and 
dross, which must be separated from it in order to make it pure. 
This is done by casting the ore, together with limestone and other 
materials, into a huge furnace, where the fire is so intensely hot 
that all are melted and thus the iron is separated from the dross, or 
stone and earth, which is now mixed with the ore. When the iron 
is thus separated and molded into large bars, it is worth from a frac- 
tion of a cent to two cents per pound, according to quality and mar- 

75 




76 



IRON — LOW GRADE AND HIGH GRADE. 



ket price. After it has been cast into great iron bars, and is known 
as pig iron, it is afterward bought and melted over again and 
molded into the form of stoves and wheels, such as are used in fac- 
tories, and a variety of other forms for manufacturing and other 
uses. 

Now, here I have some pieces of iron, such as boys call "old 
iron." They often find pieces of this kind of iron, which have been 
thrown away, and gather and sell them at a price varying from one- 
quarter to a cent or more a pound, according to circumstances. Then 
it is melted over again and made into stoves, or whatever the manu- 




Nail, Pen and Clock Spring. 

facturer may desire. Now, here are some nails, such as sell at five 
cents a pound, and here are some steel pens, which are worth from 
one to four and five dollars a pound. Here are some springs, such 
as are used in the construction of clocks. These are the springs 
which make clocks go. When you wind up the clock you simply 
tighten this spring, thus storing the power which is necessary to keep 
the clock in motion for twenty-four hours, for eight days, or even a 
longer period. 

Now here are some springs, such as are used in watches. 
These springs are worth, according to their size and quality, from 




IRON — LOW GRADE AND HIGH GRADE. 11 

twenty to fifty or sixty dollars a pound. Here also are some little 
screws, such as are used in the construction of watches, and which 
are worth even a hundred dollars a pound. 

While these different articles are all made of the same 
material, you see there is a great difference in their value. One is 
not worth a single cent a pound, and another may be worth one hun- 
dred dollars a pound. Now this difference in value is due to two 
things. One is, difference in quality, and the other is the use which 
is made of the article into 
which the iron is manufac- 
tured. 

I suppose, if these differ- 
ent pieces of metal could think, 
and had the power of speech, 
this piece of old iron would 
complain to the other pieces 
which are of more value, and Qht Q JZ^m\ 
say to the watch spring, "I am 

, Watch Spring and Screws. 

just as good as you are, we 

were both dug from the same ore bank. I remember the time when 
we were both cast into the hot fire and melted in the furnace; after 
that I was taken to the foundry, and made into a stove, and after a 
few years of use I was rejected and cast into the alley. I have had 
to lie about in the mud and in the cold and snow, and men have 
passed me by and scorned me as though I were of no value. But I 
want you to understand, Mr. Clockspring and Mr. Watchspring, 
that I am just as good as you are, and there is no reason why I 
should be cast out into the mud and cold, while you are placed in 
a gold case and carried in a gentleman's pocket." 

The nail also would cry out, and say that he was just as good 
as the little screws which are used in the watch, and would com- 



78 IRON — LOW GRADE AND HIGH GRADE. 

plain against being driven violently into a board, where it is com- 
pelled, year after year, to hold a board on to the side of a building; 
to have putty placed over its head, and then paint over the top of 
that, so that nobody could even so much as see where it was, or 
know what it was doing. 

Now, the old iron, and the nail, and the others have no right 
to complain. There is a vast difference of quality, and there is 
also a difference of work. 

The higher grades and better qualities of metals are secured 
by refining processes. Again and again the metal is cast in the fire 
and melted. Sometimes it is beaten on the anvil into such shapes 
and forms as will render the metal of greater service, and conse- 
quently of more value. 

Suppose this metal had feeling, and the power to express its 
wish. Do you not see how it would cry out against being cast into 
the fire, and being beaten with great hammers upon the anvil? I 
am sure the fire, the hammers, and the anvil bring no sense of pleas- 
ure to the metal while being refined and being beaten into such 
forms as render it of greatest value. 

Just so, in some senses at least, are all boys and girls alike. If 
they were all permitted to grow up in neglect, without being gov- 
erned by thoughtful parents, without being educated and refined, 
without being sent to school and required to attend church, without 
being taught at home and being instructed in the Catechism and in 
the Bible, and without being shown their duty to God and their 
fellow men, they would all be pretty much alike. It is the differ- 
ence in the influences that are made to refine some boys that causes 
them to differ so much from others who are about them. The boy 
who has only been taught to pick stones, or sweep the streets, or dig 
ditches, may cry out against the boy who is gentlemanly, and oblig- 
ing, and obedient, and truthful, and reliable, and who has a posi- 



IRON — LOW GRADE AND HIGH GRADE. 79 

tion of great responsibility in a bank, or in the office of some man 
who occupies a very responsible position ; yet oftentimes, and quite 
universally, there is a very great difference in the merit and value of 
these two boys. One has been disciplined and governed and con- 
trolled, educated and taught, while the other has likely been neg- 
lected, and consequently has not learned the importance of these 
things. 

God designs to refine all of us, and therefore He desires that 
all should be taught to study, should learn to read and write, should 
learn all they can from the schools, should be taught to work, should 
be taught to expect trials and self-denials, and should be led to 
expect sickness and disappointments, and all these things by which 
God designs to make us better from year to year. But, just the 
£ame as the iron would cry out against being cast into the fire and 
being beaten upon the anvil, so do boys and girls, and men and 
women also, cry out against the providences by which God is refin- 
ing them and making them better for this world and fitting them for 
the world to come. 

If we desire to be of largest service in this world, and to occupy 
a place of honor in the world to come, we must expect that God will 
deal with us, as He has told us in the ninth verse of the thirteenth 
chapter of Zechariah, in which He says, "I will refine them as 
silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried." And in the 
book of Malachi He says that He, that is God, is "like a refiner's 
fire, and like fullers' soap, and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier 
of silver, and purge them as gold and silver." 

When the gold and the silver is cast into the crucible to be 
purified, the fire is made very hot, and the metal is left in the cru- 
cible until the man who is refining it and who sits looking into the 
crucible can see his own image reflected in the metal. So we are 
cast into the fires of affliction, and God looks down upon us; but 



80 



IRON — LOW GRADE AND HIGH GRADE. 



when we become like Him, so that God sees His own self 
reflected in our character, and in our disposition, and in our tem- 
per, then we shall have been refined as God desires, and He will 
then be ready to receive us into His own home on high. 

Questions. — Can you name different things made from iron? Is a horse 
shoe as valuable as a watch spring? What makes the difference in their value? 
How are iron and steel refined, or made more valuable? Are unrefined and 
untaught boys and girls all quite alike? What makes them become different? 
Do some boys and girls become more useful and valuable in the world than 
others? What causes the difference? Would the iron cry out against being 
refined? Do boys and girls object to being taught and disciplined? How does 
the Bible say that God refines us? Can the refiner see his image in the melted 
metal? Does God want to see His own image reflected in us? 




"Joseph in the Pit." 



A POCKET RULE. 

HOW GOD MEASURES MEN. 

Suggestion: — Objects: A yard-stick, pocket-rule, tape-measure and any 
measure or scales convenient. 

Use the measures and scales for measuring the height and weight of the 
different children, and explain to them that if they continue to grow, they will 
eventually become full grown men and women. So God measures them to-day 
in moral things, and if they will learn what God requires and be obedient to 
their parents, they will increase in moral stature as well. 

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I am sure you will be 
able to tell me what these are which I hold in my hand. 
This you would call a yard-stick; the other, because it 
folds, you would call a pocket-rule, and here is another, 
which you would call a tape-measure. 

Now, if I were going to measure any of you, to tell how tall 




Yard-Stick, Pocket-Rule and Tape-Measure. 

you are, I would use one or the other of these rules; as each is 
divided into even inches, I could use any of these three I should 
prefer. I would say one boy is four feet two inches, another four 

81 



82 



A POCKET RULE. 




feet nine inches and another five feet four inches, and so on accord- 
ing to the height of each person. We speak of this kind of measure 
as feet and inches. When it is used in measuring cloth, or other 
goods in a store, we speak of it as yards and parts of a yard. Then 

there are also other forms of 
measures, dry m e a s u r e — 
quarts, pecks, bushels; and 
liquid measure — quarts, gal- 
lons and barrels. There is 
also a standard of weight — 
ounces, pounds and tons. 

It is necessary to have 
Farmer's Measures. standards of weights and 

measures. This is absolutely necessary, or we could not tell in 
purchasing cloth or lumber, in buying sugar or molasses, or other 
things, whether we are getting the right quantity, or whether we are 
not getting the right quantity. So, everywhere you go in the United 
States we have the same size 
or standard of weights and 
measures, and the Government 
appoints men in each city to go 
about and examine whether 
the scales which the store- 
keeper uses for weighing 
sugar, and the measures which 
he uses when he sells vine- 
gar and molasses — whether 
these are perfectly accurate, as 
the law requires. 

But, if you look on the other side of this tape-measure, there 
is a different standard of measure. This, on the reverse side, is the 




Scales and Measure. 



A POCKET RULE. 83 

metric system, used in France and many other countries. If you 
were to go into a store in France and wanted to purchase cloth, you 
would not ask for a yard, you would ask for a metre of cloth, which 
instead of thirty-six inches, which makes our yard, would be a little 
over thirty-nine inches; so the standard of measures and values 
varies in different countries. There is a slight difference in the 
length of the English yard and the American yard. In this coun- 
try we also speak of dollars and cents. In England they have the 
penny, shilling, pound or sovereign. And so in different countries 
there are different pieces of money, having a great variety of 
values. 

I have spoken of these things simply to call your attention to 
the fact that God has a standard of measure, and a standard of 
value, as well as men. When the Government enlists soldiers into 
the army every man is measured, and he must be of a given height; 
if he is not as tall as the requirement, then he is rejected. When 
Napoleon chose his body-guard the men all had to be exceedingly 
tall. 

God also has His standard of measure. He does not measure 
us according to the height of our body, but according to our moral 
character. He measures us to see whether we are good or bad. 
God's standard of the measure of our moral character is found in 
the Bible. You will find it, both in the Old Testament and in the 
New Testament. In the Old Testament we have the Ten Com- 
mandments, in which we are required to worship God, and to wor- 
ship nothing else; to keep the Sabbath day holy; to honor our 
parents; and various other requirements. In the New Testament 
we have a great many principles for moral government which Jesus 
announced when He was upon the earth. 

We have all broken some one or more of the Ten Command- 
ments and the precepts which Jesus left for us to follow. If you 



84 A POCKET RULE. 

desire to see how you should live, if you would keep the law per- 
fectly, you will have to look at the life of Jesus Christ. He was 
the only perfect man who ever lived. He came to this world to 
set a perfect example for men to imitate. Just the same as you copy 
after the lines correctly written at the top of your writing book, so 
you and I are to copy after the life and character of Jesus Christ. 

The moral law is a perfect law; the Psalmist says, "the law 
of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." I showed you how in 
France they have a different standard of measure from that which 
we have in the United States, but with the moral law the standard 
is the same everywhere and at all times. It is wrong to lie or steal 
in America, and it is equally wrong to lie or steal in France, or in 
Africa, or in India, or on the islands of the sea, or anywhere in all 
of the universe. If it is wicked now to swear, or to commit mur- 
der it always was wicked. It was just as wicked three thousand 
years ago as it is to-day, and it never will be right to take the name 
of God in vain, or to destroy human life. God has but one stan- 
dard of morality for all people and for all time. 

What God requires of the young in order that they may be 
pure and holy, He requires also of grown-up people. If it is wrong 
for the preacher and the Sunday-school superintendent to go to the 
theatre, or to do anything else, it is equally wrong for every mem- 
ber of the church and for every member of the Sunday-school. 
Before God we must all be measured by the same standard of 
morality. 

If I had one year ago measured the height of each of you and 
written it down, and then measured you again to-day, I would find 
that during these twelve months each of you had grown. You are 
taller to-day than you were a year ago. Now, God has given us a 
standard of moral character, right and wrong, and I want you all 
to study it very carefully, so that you may see how tall you are, 



A POCKET RULE. 



85 



how far you come short of the character of Jesus Christ. And as 
you grow taller in body, so you should grow in moral character, 
and if you will study God's word carefully, you will be able to 
discover what progress you are making in becoming more like 
Christ, in becoming better boys and better girls, and afterward 
better men and better women, from year to year, than you were 
each preceding year. 

May God bless you abundantly, and may you grow daily 
"unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
of Christ." (Eph.iv: 13.) 

Questions. — How many kinds of measures can you name? Are the 
standards of weights and measures the same in all countries? How many 
standards of measure does God have? Where can God's standard of measure 
be found? Are God's standards the same for all persons in all countries, in all 
parts of the world? Is there any place in the world where it would be right to 
lie or steal, or murder? Who was the only perfect man? Does God's standard 
ever change? Should we constantly strive to become like Christ? Hbw can 
we tell what progress we are making in becoming more like Christ? 







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THE MAGNET. 

JESUS THE GREAT DRAWING POWER. 

Suggestion: — A small magnet can be purchased in almost any hardware 
store at trifling cost. With this, also have some little tacks, nails both small 
and large, together with some old rusted and crooked nails, and a pocket knife. 

Do not omit "driving to church" and the other play features suggested in 
previous sermons. 

I AM sure that there is not a boy or girl here, who has not at 
some time felt a desire to be good and do right. When you 
have felt this way, it has been due to the fact that the Holy 
Spirit has come to you and has put these good thoughts and 
good desires into your heart. 

There is not a person living who has not at some time felt this 

same drawing and desire to do right and 
to be good. The results, however, have 
been very different with different people. 
I shall seek to illustrate this drawing 
power to you to-day, and to do so have 
brought this magnet. I have also brought 
these tacks and nails of different sizes; 

Magnet and 1 acks. 

and here are also some old, rusted, 
crooked nails. Let these several kinds represent the different kinds 
of people. 

When I take this magnet, and move it around among these 
small tacks, and then hold it up, you will see that very many of 
these tacks cling to the magnet. They hold on by some unseen 

86 




THE MAGNET. 



87 




Magnet and Small Nails. 



power. Sometimes the tacks are even not able to touch the mag- 
net, but are drawn through the influence which extends through 
other tacks, and so large clusters hang on to the magnet. If I shake 
the magnet you will see that some fall off. These small tacks rep- 
resent the youngest children. In the 
early years of our lives we are more 
easily drawn to the Lord Jesus. It is 
then more easy for us to come to Christ 
and give ourselves fully to Him. It is 
much easier to be Christians when we 
are young. Yet many put it off till 
they are older, when it is much more 
difficult and they are less likely to be successful in living a Christian 
life. 

Now, if I remove these small tacks, and place the magnet 
among these small nails, you will see that several of the small nails 

cling to the magnet, and I can lift them 
up. There are not as many, however, as 
there were of the tacks clinging to it. In 
like manner, as boys and girls grow 
older, they find it more difficult to come 
to Christ. 

Here are some larger nails. When 
I place the magnet among them, but very 
few are attracted to it. And when I at- 
tempt to lift the magnet, most all of these 
large nails fall off. Only one, some- 
times two, hold on successfully. 

Here are some nails that are still larger. Now, when I 
attempt to lift one of them with this magnet, you see that I can only 
lift one end of the nail. That is due to the fact that while the 




Magnet and Larger Nails. 



88 



THE MAGNET. 




magnet draws these nails, the earth also draws them. That is the 
reason why these smaller nails, when they fall from the magnet, 
fall to the earth; because the earth draws them. The earth 
draws with so much greater force and power upon these large nails 
than the magnet draws that I cannot raise them by the magnet. It 

is on this account that they con- 
tinue to hold fast to the earth 
rather than to the magnet. 

This represents the people 
who have grown old; who have 
large cares and responsibilities; 
who have become worldly- 
minded; who are drawn away 
by the "deceitfulness of riches 
and the lust of other things," 
and who, although they feel a 
desire to do right, yet have a 
stronger desire to do that which is not well-pleasing in the sight of 
God. 

Now, here are some old crooked, rusty nails. Let us see 
what effect the presence of the magnet will have upon them. Just 
as we might have expected. These rusty nails do not seem to feel 
the power or the influence of the magnet's presence. If I place the 
magnet up against the nail, and attempt to lift it, it does not seem 
to be drawn at all. It simply lies still, unmoved. These old, 
crooked, rusty nails represent people who have grown very old and 
very wicked, and who have become greatly hardened in sin. Jesus 
Christ and His love seem to make no impression any longer upon 
them. They are joined to their idols. God's Spirit has taken His 
departure, and they are left alone. Let me warn you, both young 
and old, that if you feel the drawing of God's Spirit, you should 



Magnet and Large Nails. 



THE MAGNET. 89 

yield to Him, so as not to become more corroded and rusted, and 
coated over by every sinful influence, so that at last the love of God 
shall fail to have any effect upon you. 

If now we take these different classes of nails and mix them 
together, and then stir the magnet among them, you will see how 
the smaller nails, in larger numbers, cling to the magnet. These 
bright nails are also affected by it. Oftentimes the influence of the 
magnet is seen, as it is communicated from one nail to the other; 
but these rusty nails, not only do not themselves yield to the influ- 
ence of the magnet, but they also fail to communicate that magnetic 
influence to any of the other nails around them. In like manner, 
wicked people seem to come between Christ and others who would 
be drawn to Him. Let me say to you, keep out of bad company. 
Avoid wicked companions — those who swear, or lie, or do any- 
thing that is wrong, for their influence over you will be bad, and 
they will prevent the good influences of holy things from acting 
upon you. 

Suppose now that I take my knife blade and move it among 
these nails, you will see that it does not attract them like the magnet 
did. It has no magnetic power. If I draw the knife blade across 
the magnet a few times, it receives this magnetic power from the 
magnet. Now, when I move it among the nails you will see how 
these little tacks and some of the larger nails are drawn toward it. 

Just so it is with each of us as individuals. Without coming 
in contact with Christ and receiving His Spirit, His drawing power, 
we will never influence others to do that which is right and good 
and holy. If we desire to have an influence for good in this world 
we must, first of all, come to Christ ourselves, and receive this 
drawing power from Him. You have doubtless seen those who 
have become Christians, and after they have given their hearts to 
Christ they have immediately begun to draw others. They go out 



90 THE MAGNET. 

and invite others to come to church, they invite others to go with 
them to the prayer-meeting, to come with them to the Sunday- 
school, and so in every way they seek to influence others that they 
may draw them to Christ. 

When Jesus was upon the earth vast multitudes attended 
Him. Where He went they followed. But now when Jesus is 
no longer bodily present upon the earth, when we cannot see Him 
with our natural eyes, we speak of walking by faith, and you may 
be curious to know what is meant by walking by faith. I think that 
I can illustrate it in this way: Here is a sheet of writing paper. 
Now above the writing paper I will place this magnet, and then 
below it I will place this small bit of iron. The attracting power 
of the magnet holds the iron up against the paper. Now, when I 
move this magnet on the upper side of the sheet from place to place, 
you will observe that this little piece of iron on the lower side of 
the sheet goes in the same direction. It follows the magnet very 
closely. The paper is between them. Now, if this paper were 
enlarged so as to be as long and as broad as the ceiling of this room, 
of course you would not be able to see the magnet. It would be 
hidden from your view. But as you would move the mag- 
net from place to place, the little iron below would continue 
to follow it. 

So Jesus Christ is no longer visible; we cannot see Him with 
our natural eyes, but He draws the Christian who is in this world, 
and so the Christian follows Him. He walks in the footsteps of 
the Lord Jesus. And it is on that account that we say that the 
Christian walks by faith, and not by sight. 

Just before Jesus was crucified He said: "And I, if I be 
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." (John 
xii: 32.) So He draws you and He draws me. And so also by 
His love He would draw every person in all the world to Him. 



THE MAGNET. 



91 



Let us not resist the drawings of the Holy Spirit, but come to the 
Lord Jesus Christ and love Him with our whole heart. 

Questions. — What can the magnet do? Can the power of the magnet be 
seen? Can the magnet lift as many nails as tacks? Are old rusty nails drawn 
by the magnet ? Who are like the little tacks ? Who are like the small nails ? Who 
are like the rusty nails? Does everybody desire at times to be good? What 
draws them in the right direction? Can we see the power that causes us to 
desire to be good? What is the name of the power or force that causes the 
nails to fall from the magnet? What power draws people from doing right? 
Should we always yield to the power that draws us in the right direction? 
Does Christ have to be seen in order to accept His influence? 




Daniel in the Lion's Den. 



KEYS, 



HOW TO UNLOCK THE HUMAN HEART. 

Suggestion: — Objects used: Locks and keys of any form or size. If pos- 
sible open the lock and show how the key fits into the different wards of the 
lock. Explain how other keys would not fit. 

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: I have here to-day 
quite a variety of locks. Here are also quite a variety of 
keys. You will notice that there are several more keys 
than there are locks. Now, I suppose that we would 
have no very great difficulty in selecting the keys that would be 

most likely to turn backward 
and forward the bolts in these 
different locks. We would 
naturally expect that these 
larger keys would fit these 
larger locks and the smaller 
keys would be adapted to lock 
and unlock the smaller ones. 

Here is this large lock; I 
suppose it is very possible this 
large key may be suited to lock 
and unlock it. Yes, it just fits. 
You see how it turns the bolt in 

Lock and Key. and out ag J tum ^ key 

Now, here is another lock; let us see if we can find a key that 
will fit it. This key seems about the size, but after passing it into 
92 




KEYS. 



93 




Lock and Key. 



the lock it seems to strike something that prevents it from turning, 
and consequently is of no service. Let us try another. That seems 
to work much better, and turns the bolt backward and forward. 

Here is still another lock; let 
us try this key with this lock. That 
seems to work very well. Possibly 
we might be able to lock and unlock 
this other also. Let us try it. Yes, 
this key fits both these locks. This 
key is what the locksmith calls a 
skeleton key. It is so made that it 
avoids the obstacles which are 
placed in the different locks to pre- 
vent them from being opened by all 
varieties of keys. Here is a still smaller lock. This lock has a 
very peculiar keyhole, and I know at once that there is no need 

of trying to unlock it with 
most of the keys which I 
have spread out here. I 
recognize it at once as what 
is called a "Yale lock." 
The key is thin, is bent in 
various ways, and along the 
edge has several notches. 
Let us try a couple of these 
keys. This one seems to fit 
very well to the grooves. It 
passes into the lock, but I 
cannot turn the bolt. Let us try another. Yes, this seems to be 
the one that was made by the locksmith to fasten and unfasten this 
lock. 




Yale Lock and Key. 



94 KEYS. 

A key then is simply something which unlocks the door or 
the gate, so you may open it and pass inside. Now, there are a 
great many kinds of keys. Sometimes a book is called a key to 
business. Perhaps another book is called a key to the study of 
medicine; another the key to the study of law. And so there may 
be a great many kinds of books which are called keys. When 
properly used or studied they open the way for a clear understand- 
ing of how to transact business, how to study medicine and how to 
study law. And so there are various books that are keys to the 
understanding of very, very many subjects. When you indicate 
to me the kind of difficulty that you have to overcome, it would be 
reasonably easy to indicate the kind of book you need in order suc- 
cessfully to meet that difficulty. 

When I find a book that teaches a boy good business habits 
and helps him to become a good business man, I know that book 
was written with that object in view. When I find a book that 
teaches one how to understand the human system, the nature of 
disease and the character of the remedies which are to be used 
when people are sick, I know that book was written with a view 
to help people to understand the nature of disease and the char- 
acter of medicine. Just so it is with every other book. Each is 
like the lock and the key, for the locks have inside a peculiar sort 
of winding way, and when I find a key that exactly fits into this 
winding passage I know immediately that the locksmith designed 
that the key should fit into that particular lock and turn back the 
bolt. 

Now, God wants to get into the human heart, and I find that 
God has a key with which to unlock it. I do not think you would 
be long in guessing what book God has made the key with which 
to unlock the human heart. I think that every boy and girl would 
at once say that it is the Bible. Yes; it is the Bible. It fits 



KEYS. 95 

exactly into all the wards and chambers, and winding passages 
which characterize each and every need of the human heart. The 
moment I bring this wonderful key of divine truth to the human 
heart, I find that the lock and the key were both made by the same 
infinite Creator. Some locks are very complicated and intricate, 
and the keys are also very peculiar. They are made especially 
for that particular lock, and no other key in all the world will 
unlock it. The moment I get that particular key and turn it around 
in the lock I know at once that both the lock and the key were 
made by the same person, and that the lock was made to be opened 
by no other key. So God has created the human heart and made 
it very difficult to be opened, and there is no key in all the world 
that can open it except the Bible. 

As a robber or a burglar may try to get into a house by the 
use of a skeleton key, or by "picking the lock," so men have often 
tried to gain admission into the human heart by the use of various 
substitutes for the genuine and the real key. They have tried 
amusement, and wealth, and sinful pleasure, and very, very many 
things; but they never succeed in getting into the inner sacredness 
of the human heart. Unless the heart is opened by God's Word, 
and the Holy Spirit is admitted so that God can take possession, 
there is always a sense of loneliness, a sense of dissatisfaction, a 
desire for something that the person does not possess; he is at unrest, 
he is restless and dissatisfied, like a boy or girl who is away from 
home, and has a homesick longing to return to that home. 

You never will be able to understand the hidden mystery of 
your own spiritual life and spiritual being until you use the Word 
of God to help you to solve the mystery. The Word of God is 
not only designed to unlock the human heart, so that God and the 
Holy Spirit may gain admission, but this key is also designed to 
lock the door against Satan and sin and keep them out of our hearts. 



96 KEYS. 

Unless we daily use our Bibles to lock our hearts against evil 
thoughts, and wicked purposes, and sinful desires, we will find that 
they will steal into our hearts; and like the evil spirit that had been 
driven out and afterward returned and brought seven other spirits 
more wicked than himself, so sin and Satan will again take posses- 
sion of our hearts and lock them against God and all that is good. 

Questions. — Are there many kinds of locks? Must there be as many 
kinds of keys as there are kinds of locks? Is the human heart like a lock? 
Does God desire to get into the human heart? With what key does He unlock 
it? Are the lock and its key made by the same man? Who made the human 
heart? Who made the key to unlock it? Can the Bible be used to lock the 
human heart against the entrance of sin? What are skeleton keys? Do men 
try false keys with which to open the human heart? What are some of the 
things with which they try? Is the human heart ever satisfied until unlocked 
by the Bible and possessed by God? 




TRAPS, 



UNSUSPECTING MICE AND MEN. 

Suggestion : — An ordinary mouse trap will be serviceable. The trap can 
be set and instead of a mouse, a child can spring the trap with his finger. The 
parent had better try his own finger first, to see that the trap is not too strong. 
A rat trap should never be tried in this way. 

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: You may think that 
possibly there was a time when wicked men did not 
desire to destroy others, as is so often the case in this 
day. Hundreds of years ago, God said, "Among my peo- 
ple are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; 
they set a trap, they catch men." (Jeremiah v: 26.) 

I suppose you 
have all seen traps. 
There are a great 
many different kinds. 
Some are very danger- 
ous, and yet you can- 
not see the danger Mouse Trap. 
until you are caught, or until you see some other person who has 
been caught in the trap. Now here is a trap. I suppose that you 
have all seen such traps as this, and possibly have them in your own 
homes, to catch the little mice which destroy your food, and often- 
times do much injury. 

Now, this trap does not look dangerous to the unsuspecting 
mouse. The little wire, which is to be drawn up by a strong 

97 




98 TRAPS. 

spring to choke the mouse to death, is concealed, and he does not 
know that there is a wire there at all. He simply smells the piece 
of cheese. This tempts his appetite, and, as he is fond of cheese, 
he desires to obtain it, and so he attempts to crawl in through this 
small hole to get the cheese; but the moment he nibbles at the 
cheese, it disturbs the little catch which holds the spring, and when 
it is too late to escape, the little mouse finds that he has been caught. 
Then he does not think of the cheese, but struggles to get loose 
and escape out of the trap. But all of his struggles are in vain, 




Mice and Trap. 

and after a few moments he is choked to death. Then the man, 
or the housewife comes, takes the little mouse out of the trap, and 
with the same piece of cheese the trap is again set for another unsus- 
pecting mouse. So people go on, day after day, catching one 
mouse after another, with the same trap and with the same bait. 

Now, there are traps which men set for boys and girls, and 
men and women, such as story papers, bad books and pictures, 
that might be called pest papers, printed poison, moral leprosy. 
To the innocent, the unthinking and the unsuspecting these things 
may not appear very dangerous, but they are very deadly in their 
effects, and they result in the temporal and eternal ruin of thou- 
sands upon thousands of people every year. 

Then there are also the saloons, with gilded signs, frosted 
windows, and showy looking glasses. Rooms which are made 



TRAPS. 99 

attractive only to catch men, to rob them of their money, and of 
their self-control, and of their reason, and of their homes, and of all 
temporal good, and of all hope of heaven — destroying men's souls 
and bodies, both for a time and for all eternity. 

Then there is the theatre, with its glittering lights, with its tin- 
seled show, with its corrupting play, with its scenes upon which 
no pure-minded man or woman can look without blushing; scenes 
which deaden the moral sense, pollute the mind, such as are calcu- 
lated to rob the individual of virtue, and of integrity, and of faith 
in God, and of hope of heaven. 

Then there are other dangerous traps which are set for young 
men and for older men — tobacco, cigarettes and cigars, and beer. 
These traps which are set for our money, which so often rob of 
health and strength, for no boy who uses tobacco in any form can 
be strong like the boy who does not use tobacco. Boys begin with 
the deadly cigarette, and then go on to the cigar, and then follow 
with drinking beer, and so, step by step, they go on down to ruin. 

If you have ever gone fishing on a calm, beautiful summer 
day, and have looked down through the water, you have often 
seen the fish as they gathered around the hook, and then watched 
them as they nibbled at the bait. First they come up very shyly, 
and barely touch the bait with their nose. Then they come again, 
and possibly just bite a small trifle — barely taste of it. Then, again 
and again they nibble at the hook, until finally they undertake to 
get a large bite, when they discover that they have swallowed the 
hook. Then it matters not how much they flounder about, and 
struggle to get away, it is too late, it is impossible for them to 
escape. They are pulled into the boat or upon the bank, and a 
few hours later they are on the stove, being cooked for some hungry 
fisherman. Just so Satan comes to those whom he wishes to catch. 
He comes with money, and with pleasure, and with the thought of 



00 



TRAPS. 




having a good time. He tempts people by presenting to their 
thought something which they desire. He leads them on step by 

step, and when they see others 
all about them who are being 
destroyed in the effort to obtain 
the same pleasure which they 
are seeking, Satan makes them 
think that in their own case the 
result will be very different. 

You will notice that this 
mouse trap has four different 
places where mice can be 
caught, and is it not strange that 
when one mouse enters on this 

Fish Doing a Dangerous Thing. ^ and J s caught> an J J g j ying 

there dead, that another live mouse should come along, and see 
the same trap and desire the same thing, and walk right in to the 
same danger, and the same sure death? You would think that 
when he saw the other mouse had been caught, and had lost his 
life, that he would turn away. But instead of that, he smells the 
cheese, walks right into the trap, and is caught, and in a few 
moments is as dead as his neighbor. So boys see others who have 
been ruined by smoking cigarettes, who have paved the way for 
their destruction by smoking cigars, by keeping bad company, by 
drinking beer, and by going on step by step. They see drunkards 
all about them who have squandered all their money and lost all 
their friends, and been forsaken by their own parents, their wives, 
and their children; who have become outcasts, and for whom no 
one longer has any respect. Men see these things daily, and yet 
they go on in the same way, beginning with beer and going, step 
by step, from social drinking, until they themselves become drunk- 



TRAPS. 101 

ards and outcasts, and go down to fill a drunkard's grave. The 
Bible says that no drunkard can inherit the kingdom of heaven. 

I trust that none of you who listen to me to-day will be so 
foolish as to permit Satan to deceive you. Look about you and 
see the results of worthless story-papers, of card-playing, of theatre 
going, of social drinking, of round dancing, lying, swearing, cheat- 
ing, and all forms of wickedness, and then remember that these 
same influences, if wrought into your life, will also produce the 
same result. Do not be like the foolish mouse, which sees its dead 
companion in the trap, and then walks up unthinkingly and pokes 
his head into the same inevitable death and destruction; but 
remember that Satan waits to destroy you, just the same as he has 
destroyed others. 

In the book of Job (xviii: 10) it says, "The snare is laid 
for him in the ground and a trap for him in the way;" and in the 
8th verse of the same book and chapter it says, "He is cast into a 
net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare." Satan has laid 
traps and snares all along your path through life, and you will 
need to be very, very cautious, lest you are ruined for time and 
destroyed for eternity. Remember the text for to-day, which says, 
"Among my people are found wicked men; they lay wait, as he 
that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men." 

Questions. — What are traps for? Are there different kinds of traps? Is 
a trap a dangerous thing? Does a dangerous trap always look dangerous? 
Are there traps set for boys and girls, and men and women? Who sets these 
traps? What are some of the traps? How are fish caught? Who tries to 
trap and destroy boys and girls, and men and women? What does Satan 
sometimes use? When the mouse sees others caught, what should he do? 
Does he run away? Does he go and do the same thing? Does he suffer the 
same result? If Satan's traps destroy others, will they destroy us? Have you 
ever seen any persons who were caught in Satan's traps? Can anybody do 
wicked things without great danger? 



BREAD. 



UNIVERSAL SOUL HUNGER. 

Suggestion: — Bread, rolls or biscuit can be used if thought necessary, 
and these can be used for refreshments later. 

If the children are tired of "driving to church" in an imaginary carriage, 
let them drive in an imaginary sleigh, with imaginary bells, amid winter scenes. 

MY LITTLE FRIENDS: I am sure that every boy and 
girl in this room knows what it is to be hungry. It is a 
part of our childhood experience to feel hungry almost 
every day. While the body is growing there is almost 
a constant demand for nourishment and food. 

We have here a small loaf of bread; it is called a Vienna 

roll, and here is a 
small biscuit. Now, 
this is bread, only it 
is baked in small 
loaves. As people 
all over the world 
have hunger, so 
bread in one form or 
another has become 
the universal food of 
the world. When in the Lord's Prayer we ask God to "give us 
this day our daily bread," we mean not simply bread made of 
flour, but we mean necessary food, food of all kinds; and so the 
word bread has come to be used to signify all kinds of wholesome 
102 




Loaf of Bread, Roll and Biscuit. 



BREAD. 103 

food. God gives us our food day by day, just the same as each 
morning the manna rained down from heaven for the Children of 
Israel while they were journeying through the desert. God does 
not send it to us in just the same way, but each day He furnishes 
us a sufficient amount of food to sustain our bodies. 

Now, as there is universal physical hunger, and as God has 
made provision to supply the food necessary to satisfy the hunger 
of the body; so there is a universal hunger of the soul, and God 
has also made provision to satisfy this universal hunger of our 
higher spiritual nature. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel by 
St. John, you will find much said about the food for the higher, 
the spiritual nature. Jesus said, "Verily, verily I say unto you, 
Moses gave you not that bread from Heaven; but My Father giveth 
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He 
which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world." 

The body is sustained by the food which grows up out of the 
earth, because the body is earthy. But to sustain the higher and 
spiritual nature of man, which is from heaven, the food is sent 
down from heaven, and therefore Jesus says of Himself that He is 
"The bread of God which cometh down from heaven, and giveth 
life unto the world," "I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me 
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." 
And in the forty-eighth verse of that same chapter He says, "I am 
the bread of life; your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and 
are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, 
that man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which 
came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread he shall live 
forever, and the bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I 
will give for the life of the world." 

Now, when you desire to be good, when you desire to live 
like Christ, you desire to know more concerning Him; and when 




104 



Plants Reaching Out Toward the Light. 



BREAD. 1 05 

you desire to read God's Word, and to learn of that which is holy 
and good and right, then you have this spiritual hunger. That is 
the kind of hunger of which Jesus was speaking in this chapter. 
The presence of Jesus in the soul and the knowledge of Him that 
is given in the Bible is the best kind of food for our spiritual nature. 
This was the kind of spiritual food upon which Joseph fed when 
he lived in the midst of idolatrous Egypt. It was upon these spir- 
itual truths that David and Daniel and Paul and Luther fed daily, 
and this nourished their spiritual natures. I trust you all have this 
hunger for the bread of life. Jesus said, "Blessed are they which 
do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." 

Did you ever see a plant growing at the window in a crock 
and observe how it bends or reaches out toward the light? If you 
turn the crock around so that the plant bends inward toward the 
room, after a day or two you go to the plant and it will have 
changed its direction, and instead of bending into the room, it will 
be bending out toward the window. Now this plant feeds on the 
light from the sun, and on that account it reaches out toward the 
sun. So if you hunger after that which is good, you will reach 
out after God, just as the plant reaches out after the sun. 

This kind of bread which I hold in my hand costs something. 
Flour costs several dollars a barrel, and bread from five to ten 
cents a loaf. In times of famine bread has sometimes been sold at 
many hundreds of dollars for one single loaf. But the bread of 
life is free; it costs nothing. Everybody can have spiritual food 
for the simple asking for it. Therefore it is that we go to God in 
prayer and ask Him for every good and helpful grace and bless- 
ing; that we ask Him for His presence in our hearts, and to make 
us good, and to help us to become like Christ. 

But there are some who have this hunger after that which is 
good, but they do not know about God and about the Lord Jesus 



106 BREAD. 

Christ. They do not have any Bibles. Therefore it is my duty 
and your duty to send them the bread of everlasting life. It is for 
this purpose that we give our money for missions so that mission- 
aries may be sent to them to tell them of God and His love, and of 
Jesus Christ the Saviour, and to take them the Bible. 

In order that we may be strengthened by bread, it is necessary 
that we should eat it, and that we should assimilate it or make it 
part of our own bodies, in order that we may become strong, other- 
wise we would die of hunger in the midst of great store-houses of 
food. So men and women die spiritually in the midst of churches, 
in the midst of Bibles, Bible influences, and Bible privileges; yes, 
die without Christ. In order that our spiritual natures may be fed 
with spiritual food, we have every Christian influence in our 
homes, we have the Sunday-school and the Catechetical class, and 
the Church with its preaching service, and prayer-meetings and 
other services. If you desire to be good, you must study your 
Bibles, go to Sunday-school and to church, and seek to know 
all you possibly can concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive 
Him into your hearts, and live a Christian life by His aid and the 
grace which God will grant you from day to day. 

Questions. — Do all boys and girls get hungry? What food is most uni- 
versally used in the world? Does the body require food every day? Why? 
Do we have a spiritual nature as well as a physical nature? Is there a spiritual 
hunger as well as a physical hunger? Will food which satisfies the physical 
hunger satisfy the spiritual hunger? Who does the Bible say is the "bread of 
life"? Can we obtain food for the body without buying it either with money or 
effort? Must Jesus, the spiritual food, be bought? Can salvation be pur- 
chased? If God did not give it to us could we ever pay for it? Where can we 
learn most about this spiritual hunger and about the "bread" which came down 
from Heaven? How shall we send the Bread of Life to the people in heathen 
lands ? 



THE STONE. 



THE NATURAL AND CHANGED HEART. 

Suggestion: — Objects: A small cobble stone and a larger one, to represent 
the heart of a child and the heart of an adult, and a pin with which to prick the 
stone and prick the hand. 

NOW, boys and girls, I have here a stone, which because of 
its peculiar shape reminds me of the human heart. But 
if I take a pin and prick this stone it has no feeling what- 
ever. If I take this pin and prick the back of my hand, 
I feel it immediately. It is very unpleasant. Indeed, I do not like 
to endure it, but this stone 
has no feeling. If I were 
to love this stone, the stone 
would never be conscious 
of it. I might bestow 
great gifts upon this stone, 
I might purchase fruit for 
it, and everything that you 
and I might love for food; 
the finest clothing also, the 
most costly lands and 
houses, or we might even 
bestow upon it very great 
honor, and yet this stone would know nothing of it. It would 
always be insensible of all that I might do for it. 

107 




Pricking a Stone. 



108 



THE STONE. 



Now the Bible represents the natural heart as being wicked. 
We are told in the Bible that our hearts have no feeling; that God 
loves us, and yet that we do not appreciate it; that God bestows 
upon us our daily food, and that He clothes us, and blesses us 
with every good, and has provided for us mansions in the skies, 
and that He desires to give us everlasting salvation. He loves us 

so much that He 
gave His only begot- 
ten Son, Jesus 
Christ, to die for us, 
and yet with the 
natural heart no one 
ever loves God, or 
appreciates anything 
that He has done for 
us. And so God 

Pricking the Hand. j^^ as j_j e ^ 

us in the Bible, to take away, out of our flesh this heart 
of stone, and give us a heart of flesh, so that we may 
appreciate and love Him in return for all that He has done 
for us. 

The heart is spoken of in the Bible as the seat of the affec- 
tions, and therefore it is that God desires us to have a new heart, 
a changed heart, a heart that can love Him. The Bible says that 
each one is to keep his heart with all diligence, for out of it are the 
issues of life. We are told also that "the heart is deceitful above 
all things and desperately wicked." 

Many years ago in England there was a man by the name 
of John Bunyan. I suppose you have all heard of his wonderful 
book entitled the "Pilgrim's Progress." I hope that many of you 
have read it. All of you should read it, if you have not yet done 





Assaulting the City of Child-Soul. 



109 



110 THE STONE. 

so. Get your mother or father to read it for you, if you cannot 
read it yourself. 

This man Bunyan also wrote a book entitled the "Holy 
War." In this book he represents the human soul or the human 
heart as a city, and calls it the "City of Mansoul." This city has 
various gates, and at all these gates the enemy is trying to gain 
admission into the city, so that he may capture it. It is, indeed, 
a very apt illustration of the human heart. Do you know that 
your heart is like a city, and that Satan is trying to capture and to 
get possession of it? Indeed, he may already have possession of it. 
And when God by His grace shall come and cast out Satan and all 
his evil companions, they will come back and try to get into the 
city again. They will come to the various gates of the city; for your 
heart has various avenues of approach, which may be called gates. 
There is eye- gate. Satan comes and he appeals to you and tries to 
get into your heart through the eye. Bad pictures that are posted 
upon the bulletin boards along our streets, and wicked things upon 
which you and I ought not to look — worthless papers, bad books — 
these Satan desires to have us look upon, and in that way get evil 
thoughts into our minds and wicked purposes into our hearts, so that 
he can once more get possession of our hearts. 

Then he comes to ear- gate, and tries to get into our hearts 
through our ears. There are wicked songs, and bad stories, and 
wicked words that men pour into our ears, even when we walk 
along the streets. And so Satan tries to get into our hearts through 
ear-gate, and he tries to get into our hearts through what I will call 
mouth- gate. He tempts our appetite, and would have us eat 
things which would injure us, or to drink that which would harm 
us. And so he tries to get a boy to smoke, or to drink, if at first only 
beer, or something else, until at last Satan makes a drunkard of 
him. So Satan would get into the heart through mouth-gate. And 



THE STONE. 1 1 1 

when he cannot get into the heart through mouth-gate, or any 
other way, he oftentimes approaches mouth- gate by way of nose- 
gate. By the smell of something that is pleasant he tempts the 
appetite, and thus would lead us astray. 

And then he would also approach our hearts through the 
sense of feeling. There are many wicked things that Satan tempts 
people to do in order to give them pleasure, and so he seeks to get 
into their hearts, and to get entire control of them, and in that way 
to get God out of their hearts. 

The best thing that you and I can do, is to accept of God's 
invitation, where He says, "My son, give me thine heart." I 
trust that you will give your heart earnestly and fully to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. He will take away this heart of stone out of your 
flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. He will keep your heart 
securely for you, if you will only give it fully to Him. 

Questions. — Does the stone have any feeling? Are our natural hearts 
like a stone? Can a human heart that is insensible like a stone be conscious of 
God's love? Who offers to give us a heart that will be conscious of God's 
love? Who wrote the book picturing the human heart like a city? Who is 
trying to capture this city? Through what gates does Satan try to enter? How 
does he try to get into Eye-Gate? How does he try to get into Ear- 
Gate? How does he try to get into Mouth-Gate? Can you tell any other 
methods that he tries? To whom had we better surrender the city of our 
soul? If we commit the city of our soul to God, will He protect and defend it? 
Is there any other way of safety? 



THE POLISHED STONE. 

PERFECTION THROUGH SUFFERING. 

Suggestions — A piece of polished stone, or a polished jewel, or piece of 
polished metal will answer for the object to be used. 



M 



Y LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: I trust you are all 
trying to be good, and perhaps while you have been try- 
ing to be a follower of Jesus you have desired many 
things and hoped that God would give them to you, 
because you were trying to do right, and yet, perhaps, you have 
been disappointed because God did not grant your wish. You 
have been seeking to be faithful, and yet, perhaps, sickness has 
come to you, or disappointment and sorrow. Perhaps sickness and 
death have come into your family. Your papa or your mamma 
has been taken away by death, and you have been left very sad 
and lonely, and you have come to wonder how it is, if God loves 
you, that He does not grant you just what you wish, and that He 
permits sickness and sorrow and bereavement to come to you and 
to your home. 

When you have looked about you, you have seen many good 
people who have been in much distress, oftentimes in poverty, 
afflicted with sickness, bereaved of their loved ones, and left in 
great sorrow and disappointment. When you have taken up your 
Bible you have found that the same was true many hundreds of 
years ago. David was greatly afflicted. Paul had his thorn in 
the flesh. The disciples were often cast into prison, and it is very 
112 




Copyrighted, 1911, by Sylvanus Stall 



Stones Being Prepared for a Great Building 



THE POLISHED STONE. 1 1 5 

likely that all of them were put to death, as their Master had been 
before them. 

Now I want to illustrate to you to-day why God per- 
mits sorrow and affliction to come to us. I have here two stones, 
both taken out of the same quarry. This one is polished and has 
a very beautiful surface. It is very beautiful, not only to look at, 
but it would be beautiful in any place you might choose to put it. 
This other is rough and jagged, and not at all pleasant, either to 
handle or to look upon. This rough stone can be made useful, but 
it would be no more useful than any other rough and unsightly 
stone. It would do very well to place in the foundation of a build- 
ing, to be all covered up with mortar and have other stones laid on 
top of it; to be built in the foundation down below the ground, 
where no one would ever see it. But it would be of no special 
value in its present condition for anything other than that. 

I think this polished stone may very properly represent Chris- 
tian people. For long, long years this stone had been lying peace- 
fully and quietly in its rocky bed. But one day a man who pur- 
posed to build a very beautiful palace came along, and he 
found that the great rocks in a certain portion of the country con- 
tained stone that could be polished very beautifully. They could 
therefore be made very useful in constructing his palace or cathe- 
dral. So he sent a large number of men to the quarry and they 
began to drill great holes in the rock. Now, if these rocks had any 
feeling you can see at once that they would object to having such 
great holes drilled into their sides, because it would hurt a great 
deal. But after the men had the holes drilled they put powder in 
them and blasted off great pieces of these rocks. Then these great 
blocks were hauled away and placed in the hands of stone masons, 
who began with chisels and mallets to cut and carve. After that, 
with some fine sand or emery, or something of that kind, other men 



116 



THE POLISHED STONE, 



ground and polished the face of the stone until it became very 

beautiful. 

Now, if these stones had had feeling, you can see at once 

that they would have objected to being chiselled and cut, and 

carved, and ground, 
and polished. This 
process would have 
hurt so much that the 
stones would have 
cried out, and asked 
to be delivered from 
such a painful pro- 
cess. 

It is related of 
Michael Angelo, 
that one day he was 
passing a quarry 
where large blocks 
of beautiful marble 
were being taken 
out. In one large 
block he saw a beau- 
tiful angel. He 
ordered the block to 
be taken to his 

Stones Being Polished. . j» .1 1 

5 studio, or the place 

where he studied and worked. And then he put his men at work 
to chisel off the rough corners, and thus to deliver the angel out of 
the rough pieces by which it was surrounded. After many days 
and weeks, and perhaps months of working, in which this large 
block of marble had to submit to a great deal of chiselling and 





'The Beautiful Angel Was Carved Out." 



117 



1 1 8 THE POLISHED STONE. 

carving, and cutting, and polishing; lo! and behold, the beautiful 
angel was all carved out and stood complete and perfect. It was 
polished and was made very beautiful, and when it was set up, it 
was the delight of every one who looked upon it. But all this, 
you easily see, was only made possible by that cutting and carv- 
ing, which would have been very painful to the marble if it had 
been possessed of feeling. 

I think you will begin to see that these things which we call 
troubles and trials, after all, are well calculated by God to bring 
out that which is noblest and best in us. 

When you grow older you will come to say like Paul, that 
you know that "tribulation worketh patience, and patience exper- 
ence, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed." You 
will then come to understand that these things "work out for us a 
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," and like Paul, 
you will learn to be "patient in tribulation." One time when Paul 
and Barnabas were at Lystra and healed a cripple, the people 
were moved against Paul by some wicked Jews from Antioch and 
Iconium, and they pursued Paul and threw large stones at him 
and hit him with such great force that he fell down, and they sup- 
posed that he was dead. But Paul was not dead, and afterwards 
when he met some of the Christian people at that and other places, 
when they talked to him about it, and thought that it was very 
hard that God should have permitted these wicked people to stone 
him, Paul told these Christians that "through much tribulation we 
must enter into the kingdom of heaven." 

But I must not detain you longer. I want simply to say in 
closing that when St. John had been banished to the Isle of Pat- 
mos and was permitted to have a view of heaven, and looked into 
that glorious city, he saw a great company, and he inquired of the 
angel who these people were. The angel replied: "These are 



THE POLISHED STONE. 1 1 9 

they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their 
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore 
are they before the Throne of God and serve Him day and night 
in His temple; and He that sitteth upon the Throne shall dwell 
among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; 
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb 
which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them, and shall lead 
them unto living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all 
tears from their eyes." (Rev. vii: 14-17.) 

If in our sickness, or sorrow, or disappointment here upon the 
earth, we are sad or lonely, let us remember that in the happy home 
to which we go we shall be forever with the Lord, and that all 
tears shall be wiped away, and that we shall be happy forever and 
ever on high. It is only through these tribulations that you and I 
can be prepared to enter heaven. If God were to give us every- 
thing we want, like children who are indulged, we would soon be 
spoiled and would not be fit for the enjoyment of heaven or the 
companionship of the angels. 

Questions. — What is rough stone used for? Does the stone have feeling? 
If it had feeling, would it object to being cut and chiselled and polished? Could 
it be used in a great building unless it was first quarried and prepared? How 
can the rough stone be made beautiful? Can it be polished so that you can see 
your face in it? Who prepares people to be builded into Has kingdom? How 
does He do this? Who composed the great multitude whom John saw in the 
glorious city? What had happened to them? What should we remember in 
times of sickness and sorrow? Why are trials necessary to fit us for heaven? 
Will we be in the presence of God there and have angels as our companions? 



ROPES. 

HABITS AND HOW THEY BECOME STRONG. 

Suggestions: — Objects to be used are a spool of thread, a piece of string 
or twine and a piece of rope. 

After the sermon has been read, the thread and strings could be used to tie 
the hands and feet, and thus illustrate how impossible it is to break them when 
they are wound again and again around the hands and the feet, even though 
the thread be very fine. So with habits, seemingly insignificant. 

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: I have today a piece 
of rope, and also some different kinds of string. If I 
take this rope and try to break it, I find that it is impos- 
sible. I do not believe that any five or six ordinary men 
could pull with sufficient strength to break this rope. I am 
sure that no twenty boys and girls could pull hard enough 

to break it. 

Here is a very 
strong string. Per- 
haps a couple of 
boys, possibly four 
boys, might be able 
R °P e - to break it. But 

here is a thinner string. Possibly I may be able to break this. Yes, 
I can, but with great difficulty. It takes all the strength I have to 
break it. 

Now, here is some that is still thinner. It is about as thick as 
heavy thread. I can break it very easily. 

But now, when I take this heavy rope and cut off a piece, if I 
120 




ROPES. 121 

unwind these different strands, I find that this rope is made by 
twisting smaller ropes together. If I untwist this smaller rope, 
which I have taken out of the larger rope, I find that it in like man- 
ner is also made of smaller ropes, or strings. If I take these smaller 
strings, and untwist them, I 
find that they are made of 
still smaller strings; if I take 
any of these smaller strings 




out of the rope, I can break 
them easily, but when I 
twist several of them to- 
gether, I cannot break them. 

I think that these smaller cords, out of which this rope is made, 
will very fittingly illustrate habits. It is a very dangerous thing to 
form bad habits. We should be very careful to form good ones, 
but bad ones are very dangerous. The boy who remains away 
from Sunday-school but once, thinks little of it. The boy who 
remains away from church, or stays at home from school, or dis- 
obeys his parents, or spends the evenings on the streets instead of in 
the house reading good books, or breaks the Sabbath, or does any 
one of many things, may think very little of it at the time; but do 
you know that when we go on repeating the same thing over and 
over again, the habit grows stronger and stronger until at last we 
are not able to break loose from that habit? There are men who 
think that they can stop smoking. They began with only an occa- 
sional cigarette or a cigar, until the habit grew upon them, and now 
possibly they think they are able to stop, but when they undertake 
to break off smoking, they find that it is a very difficult task, and 
very few smokers who undertake it succeed permanently. The old 
habit is likely to overcome them again and again. 

So it is with swearing, and with telling falsehoods, and with 



122 



ROPES. 



being dishonest, and with drinking liquor, and everything else that 
men and boys often do. These habits at last become very strong, 
until they are not able to break loose from them. 

Now, if you take one of these strong habits from which a man 
is not able to break loose, and untwist it, you will find that it was 
made strong by a repetition of small habits. Habits are made 
strong by doing the same thing over and over again. It is just the 
same as when I take this spool of thread and wrap it around the feet 

of a boy. I can wrap it around and 
around, and while it would be easy for 
him to break the thread if it was wrap- 
ped once or twice, or three or four times 
around his feet; yet after I have suc- 
ceeded in placing it ten or twelve, or 
twenty-five or fifty times around his 
feet, he is not able to walk at all. 

I could tie his hands by wrapping 
this small thread around and around, 
just a few times. At first it could be 
broken, but after a little it becomes so 
strong that he is not able to break it at 
all. So it is with habits. When we 
do the same things again and again, the 
habit becomes stronger and stronger 
day by day, and year by year, until at last Satan has the poor vic- 
tim bound hand and foot, and he is absolutely helpless. No one is 
able to come and snap the cords, and set this poor helpless prisoner 
free, until God in His grace comes and liberates him from the evil 
habits with which he has bound himself, or with which he has 
permitted Satan to bind him. 

It is very important that in the very beginning of life, we 




Hands Bound. 



ROPES. 



23 



should all form the habit of doing those things which are right. 
The doing of the right may at first afford us but very little pleasure, 
yet we are to continue to do right, and after a while it will become 
pleasant for us to do right. 

At first it may not be very pleasant for a boy to go to school. 
He prefers not to exert himself; not to put forth any mental effort. 
But after he be- 
comes accustomed to 
going to school, and 
to putting forth 
mental effort, it be- 
comes more and 
more natural to him, 
and finally he comes 
to love study. After 
he has completed his 
studies in the pri- 
mary school, he goes 
to the intermediate, 
and to the grammar 
school, and high 
school, and possibly 
to college, and con- 
tinues to be a student 
all his life. 

So it is with going to church ; those who begin when they are 
young and go regularly, Sunday after Sunday, become regular 
church attendants all their lives. 

Habits are formed very much like the channel of a river. 
Gradually, year after year, the river wears its course deeper and 
deeper, until finally through the soft soil and the hard rock, 




Feet Bound. 



124 ROPES. 

through the pleasant meadow and the beautiful woodlands, it has 
worn out for itself a very deep channel in which it continues to 
flow to the ocean. 

So the mind, by repeated action, marks out its course. 
Whether the mental effort or manual work be pleasant or difficult, 
we become so accustomed to it, that we go on day by day, and year 
by year doing the same thing. 

The Bible gives very wise instruction to parents when it says, 
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, 
he will not depart from it." (Prov. xxii: 6.) It has also been 
wisely said, "Sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and 
you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny." 

Be careful, boys and girls, what you do, for by doing any- 
thing you are forming a habit. If you do wrong things you will 
form bad habits, but if you do right things you will form good 
habits, which are always the best. 

Questions. — Are small ropes or strings used to make big ropes? Can you 
tie a boy's hands and feet with thread so that he cannot make himself free? 
How are strong habits made? Is it a good thing that habits are formed in this 
way? Does this make it easy to form good habits? Does it also make it easy 
to break away at first from a bad habit? Which is easier, to form a bad habit 
or to break away from it? Who tries to bind us with bad habits? Who alone 
can break the ropes of habit with which Satan binds us? What does the Bible 
say about training up a child in the way he should go.? 



WATCH AND CASE. 

THE SOUL AND THE BODY. 

Suggestion: — A watch and case (preferably a double case) from which 
the works can be easily removed will answer the purpose. Jewelers often have 
such old watches that they would be glad to sell for a trifle, or even to give 
away. A small old clock from which the works can be removed would also 
answer the same purpose. 

Keep up the play idea with the children. Older persons may weary of 
repetition, but to children their play is always new and interesting. After "driv- 
ing to church", being shown to seats, and after some opening services, let one of 
the children preach in his or her own language the truth which most impressed 
them in last Sunday's object sermon, or the truth which they remember from 
the morning sermon in church, or from any passage of Scripture which they 
may prefer. No better school of oratory was ever formed, even though the pri- 
mary purpose is devotional and religious. 

NOW, boys and girls, what is this that I hold in my hand? 
(Many voices, "A watch.") I expected that you would 
say it was a watch. Every boy knows a watch when he 
sees it, and every boy desires to have a watch of his own 
— one which he can carry in his pocket, and one which will tell 
him the time of day whenever he looks at it. 

But you cannot be sure, even from appearances, that this is 
absolutely a watch. It might be only a watch-case. In order to 
tell whether it is a watch, let us open it. After all, it is not 
a watch. It is only a watch-case. You would not wish to spend 
your money when you expect to get a watch, and on reaching home 
find that you have been deceived, and that you had nothing but a 
watch-case? 

125 



126 



WATCH AND CASE. 




Now, boys and girls, what is this? (holding up the works of 

the watch) . "A watch." This time you are right, this is a watch. 

It is a watch without a case 
around it. Now we will put the 
works into the case, and then we 
will have a complete watch. The 
works and the case together more 
properly constitute a watch. 

You have, I suppose, been at 
a funeral, and have seen the body 
of the dead man or woman or 
child lying in the coffin. Unless 
somebody has told you differ- 
ently, you may possibly have 
thought the person whom you 
Watch-case. fo^ known was lying there in the 

coffin. But this was not the fact. Every man, woman and child 

consists of a soul and a body, and when a person dies the soul returns 

to God, who gave it. God 

made our body out of the dust 

of the ground, and when the 

spirit leaves the body, it is 

a dead body, and it begins to 

decay, and soon becomes 

offensive, and so we bury the 

body out of our sight, putting 

it again in the ground, and 

finally it moulders back again 

to dust. 

It is not so, however, with the soul. That is a spirit. When 

God had made Adam out of the dust of the ground, He breathed 




A Watch-case and Works. 



WATCH AND CASE. 



27 



into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. 
Now, this soul never dies. God has created it to live forever and 
ever, throughout all eternity. Those who are good and trust in the 
Lord Jesus Christ will be received at death to dwell forever with 
the Lord. And 
those who are 
wicked and do not 
repent of their sins, 
God will banish for- 
ever from His pres- 
ence; for sin is hate- 
ful in the sight of 
God, who cannot 
look upon it with 
any degree of allow- 
ance. 

The moment 
you look upon a 
body, without being 
able to tell how, you 
can nevertheless 
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Case and Works Separated. 



dead body. When a dead horse lies along the road, it is very 
difficult to drive a live horse near to the dead one. The living 
horse knows at once that the other is dead, although we do not 
know how he knows it. 

Now, I want to show you that death does not affect the exis- 



128 WATCH AND CASE. 

tence of the soul. I will now lift these works out of the watch case. 

I now hold the case in my left hand, and the works in my 
right hand. As these works constitute the real watch, so the soul 
constitutes the real person, and as these wheels and hands continue 
to move, and to keep time regularly even after they have been 
removed from the case; so the soul, when God removes it from the 
body, continues to exist and to be possessed of all that makes the 
reasoning, thinking, immortal and indestructible being of man. 

I might take this case, which I hold in my left hand, and bury 
it in the ground, but the works would not be affected by this fact, 
but would continue to run on just the same. Suppose I were to 
leave this case buried in the ground until it had all rusted away. 
Then suppose that, as a chemist I could gather up all these par- 
ticles again and make them anew into a watch case, and then put 
the works back into the case which had been restored or made 
anew; that would represent the resurrection of the body, and the 
reuniting of the soul with the body, which will take place at the 
resurrection day. 

Some years ago there was a great chemist, whose name was 
Faraday. It happened one time in his laboratory that one of the 
students, by accident, knocked from the table a silver cup, which 
fell into a vessel of acid. The acid immediately destroyed or dis- 
solved it, and the silver all disappeared, the same as sugar dissolves 
or melts in a tumbler of water. When Professor Faraday came 
in and was told what had happened, he took some chemicals and 
poured them into the acid in which the silver had disappeared. As 
soon as these two chemicals came together, the acid began to 
release the silver, and particle by particle the silver settled at the 
bottom of the vessel. The acid was then poured off and the silver 
was all carefully gathered up and sent to a silversmith, who melted 
the silver and made it anew into a silver cup of the same form, 



WATCH AND CASE. 1 29 

design and beauty. It was the same cup made anew. So, my 
young friends, our bodies may dissolve in the grave and entirely 
disappear, but God is able to raise them up again. He tells us in 
the Bible that these bodies which are buried in corruption shall be 
raised in incorruption, and that these mortal bodies shall put on 
immortality. 

I trust that I have illustrated to you how the soul and the 
body are separated when we die, and God's Word assures us that 
they shall be reunited again in the morning of the resurrection, for 
all these dead bodies "shall hear the voice of the Son of God and 
shall come forth." It matters not whether they were buried in the 
ground, or in the water, they shall arise from every sea and from 
every cemetery, and every grave in all the world, and shall live 
anew and forever, either in happiness with God in heaven, or in 
misery with Satan in eternal banishment from God's presence. 

Questions. — What are the principal parts of a watch? Which part is like 
the body? Which part is like the soul? W'hich is the real watch? Could the 
works alone run and keep time without the case? When does the soul become 
separated from the body? Does death affect the existence and life of the soul? 
If a watch case were buried and rusted away, could it be made new again? 
Does the Bible say our bodies are also to be raised again from the grave? 
What is that raising up of the body called? Will it make any difference 
whether a body was buried in the sea or in the earth? ("The sea shall give 
up its dead"). Whose voice shall call the body to immortality? Will the 
immortal body ever die? 



PEARLS, 



ONE OF GREAT PRICE. 

Suggestion : — A single pearl, or a string of pearls will serve well for illus- 
tration. 



M 



Y YOUNG FRIENDS: Here is a whole string of pearls. 

One time I found a large pearl in an oyster. I thought 

it might be valuable, and I took it to a jeweler, but he 

soon told me that it was not worth much, because it was 

not perfect. It was unusually large, but to be valuable it must be 

perfectly round and have no defects. When Jesus was upon the 

earth He told of a mer- 
chant who went in 
search of a very valuable 
pearl, and when he had 
found it, he sold all that 
he had and bought that 
pearl, in order that he 
might have the largest 
and most valuable jewel 
in all the world. 

Cleopatra, Queen 

of Egypt, had a pearl 

that was worth three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, 

and one day she dissolved this costly pearl, and drank it in a glass 

of wine to the honor of Mark Antony, one of the Roman rulers. 

130 




String of Pearls. 




Diving for Pearls. 



131 



132 PEARLS. 

There are pearls to-day worth two and three hundred thousand 
dollars, and possibly more. 

The pearl in this parable is the symbol of salvation. Now, 
salvation has cost more, and is worth more than all the farms, and 
houses, and stores, and wealth of all this nation, and all the nations 
of all the globe, and all the created universe about us. It cost the 
life of the Son of God, and it is desirable, therefore, that you and 
I should obtain it, because of the many blessings it secures to us, 
both in this world and in the world to come. 

For two thousand years men from all the largest nations of 
the earth have gone to the island of Ceylon, seeking pearls. It is 
a barren and deserted island, but during the months of February, 
March and April, every night at ten o'clock, many boats sail out 
about ten miles, to the place where men, with large leaden weights 
at their feet, dive down through the water until they come to the 
banks where the large pearl oyster has his home. They quickly 
pick up several of these oysters and drop them into a basket of net- 
work, and in about sixty or seventy seconds are again drawn up 
by their companions into the boat. 

Men and women could not have pearls if it were not that 
these men are willing to risk their lives by diving way down under 
the water to obtain them. No one could secure salvation had not 
Jesus left His throne in heaven and come down to this wicked 
world to suffer and die, that He might make atonement for our 
sins upon the cross, so that you and I might not perish but have ever- 
lasting life — so that you and I might have salvation, both here and 
in heaven. 

When I went to the jeweler, he told me that the defects on 
the pearl which I had found could not be removed and the rough 
places polished. Diamonds have to be cut and polished. Many 
precious and costly jewels when found look only like rough stones 



PEARLS. 1 33 

in the field, but the pearl is perfect when found; nothing can be 
done to make it more perfect or more valuable. Just so is the sal- 
vation of Jesus perfect; no human wisdom can improve upon it. 
The best book that any man ever wrote has been equaled by what 
some other man has thought and written. The religion of the 
heathen can be greatly improved, but the Bible and the salvation 
which it reveals, man has never been able to equal, much less to 
improve upon. 

To-day, as thousands of years ago, pearls are worn as orna- 
ments to the body, but the salvation which Jesus Christ came to 
bring is an ornament to the soul that possesses it. 

The pearl is valuable and desirable, because it cannot easily 
be stolen away from its owner. When Jesus was upon the earth 
they did not have banks, with large iron safes where people could 
deposit their money and jewels for safe keeping. There were 
many robbers then, and people buried their money and valuables. 
Often the places where these were concealed were discovered, 
and then all that they had was stolen. A pearl is small, and could 
therefore easily be hidden in a place of safety. If war occurred, 
or for any reason a man and his family had to flee from their home 
or their country, they could easily carry even the most valuable 
pearls. The owner could hide it in his mouth, or even swallow it 
if necessary. If a man had much gold, it was too heavy to carry, 
and it could readily be discovered and stolen. But a pearl was not 
Ho difficult to hide and keep. 

The Bible tells us that salvation is something that the world 
cannot give, and which the world cannot take away. Daniel had 
this pearl of great price, and even though the king cast him into the 
den of lions, he could not get it away from him. His three com- 
panions with those hard names, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed- 
nego, had this pearl of salvation, and even in the furnace of fire it 



1 34 PEARLS. 

was not destroyed or taken from them. If you have this pearl of 
salvation, you can keep it in spite of all the wicked people in the 
world; you can hide it away in your heart, and all the armies of 
the world cannot take it away from you. In sickness or in health 
it will be yours, and even death itself can not rob you of it. It will 
stay with you in this world, and it will be your joy and gladness in 
the world to come. 

As the merchantman went out seeking the most valuable 
pearl, so all the world is to-day seeking for something which will 
satisfy and render their owners happy. There are many good 
things in this world, but none of them can make any one contented 
and happy, like the salvation which Jesus gives when we repent of 
our sins and in faith accept Him as our Saviour. Before you get, 
or even desire any other pearl, I want each of you to accept of this 
"Pearl of great price," which is Jesus Christ. 

Questions. — Of what is a pearl the symbol in the Bible? Are pearls valu- 
able? Is salvation valuable? Where are pearls principally found? How are 
they obtained? Are pearls polished like the diamond? Why do people wear 
pearls? Can we lose pearls by having them stolen? Can we lose salvation? 
Who would steal it away ? Who can give us the "Pearl of great price" ? 

It is well to have the children learn the answers to many of the leading 
Bible questions. Try them in the following: — Who was the first man? Who 
was the first woman? Of what did God make Adam and Eve? Who was the 
first murderer? Who was the oldest man? Who built the ark? Who had the 
coat of many colors? Who was the strongest man? Who slew Goliath the 
giant? With what did David slay Goliath? Who was the wisest man? Who 
was cast into the den of lions ? Who went to Heaven in the chariot of fire with- 
out dying? Upon whom did Elijah's mantle fall? and similar questions. 



COAL AND WOOD. 



JESUS THE SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT AND WARMTH. 

Suggestion: — THe objects used to-day can be a piece of wood, a piece of 
coal, a candle and a piece of electric light carbon, such as are daily thrown away 
in towns where the arc lighting is used. 

DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: When Jesus was upon the 
earth, He said of Himself, "I am the light of the world." 
Now, I desire to-day to illustrate to you something of 
the truth which Jesus had in mind when He uttered 
these words. 




TI3 



The Sun and Moon. 



We are told in the Bible, that when God created the world, 
on the fourth day He created the sun and the moon to give light 
9 135 



1 36 COAL AND WOOD. 

upon the earth, the sun to rule over the day, and the moon to rule 
over the night. 

I suppose you all know that the earth is round, and that while 
the sun is shining on our side of the earth, and making it day here, 
on the other side of the earth it is night and is all dark. Now, I 
want to tell you that the sun is the source of all light upon the 
earth. The sun shines and dispels the darkness, and makes it light. 
And do you know that the moon does not shine by its own light, 
but it simply throws back again, as we say, reflects, the light of the 
sun, just the same as when a boy takes a small piece of looking- 
glass and throws the light across the street? There is no light in the 
looking-glass itself, but it simply takes the rays of light which fall 
upon it from the sun and bends them, or turns them, so that the boy 
can throw the rays of light across the street, or upon anything that 
he desires that is in range of him. So the light of the sun falls 
upon the moon, and is turned again or reflected back upon the 
earth. God has so placed the moon in the heavens that it reflects 
the light of the sun upon those portions of the earth which are in 
darkness. Or, in other words, as He says in the Bible, the moon 
has been "made to rule the night." So you see that even the moon 
does not shine by its own light. 

Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. All the good there 
is in the world, all the righteousness, all that is holy and pure, come 
from Jesus Christ. The Church is also a source of purity, of holi- 
ness, of religion, and of Christianity. But the church does not 
shine of itself. It does not have these influences within itself. All 
its light is derived from the Sun of Righteousness. All influences 
which tend for goodness and holiness and purity are derived 
from the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of all that is 
good, and only in so far as the Church reflects the life of Jesus, and 
the truth which is revealed in His Word, and in the teachings of 



COAL AND WOOD. 



137 



Jesus, does it become the source of saving power in the 
world. 

Now, here I have a piece of coal, and a piece of wood, and a 
candle, and a piece of carbon from an electric light. You might 
ask me whether the light that comes from the coal when it burns, or 
the wood when it burns, and the candle when it is lighted, and the 
electric light when it illuminates the street so brightly, whether they 
are not shining by their own light? No; they are not 
shining by their own light. All the light that there is in the 
wood, or in the coal, or in the candle, or in anything else that makes 
a light at all, derives its source and origin from the sun. The light 

that comes from the 
burning of this wood 
is simply the releas- 
ing of the light that 
has been accumulated 
from the rays of light 
shining from the sun 
upon the tree while it 
was growing, year 
after year, in the field 

Candle, Coal and Wood. or forest. And nOW, 

when it is burning, it simply releases or throws out that light which it 
received from the sun, and which was stored up in the wood of 
the tree while it was growing. 

This coal is simply a portion of a tree which grew many, many 
hundreds or thousands of years ago, and which, in some great con- 
vulsion of nature, was buried deep under the surface of the earth 
in what we now call coal mines. The coal has undergone some 
chemical changes, but, nevertheless, all the light there is in the 
coal is simply that buried sunshine, which was stored up centuries 




138 COAL AND WOOD. 

and centuries ago, in the form of vegetables and trees. Now, when 
it burns in the grate or in the furnace it simply releases that heat and 
warmth and light, which was stored up in these trees many, many 
centuries ago. It is simply buried sunshine which God has stored up 
for our use. The same is true of the light of the candle; if it were 
not for the light of the sun there would be no light giving power in 
any oil or tallow, or in this carbon, which is used in the electric light; 
they all derive their light from the sun itself. 

Just so it is with all the truth and righteousness there is in the 
world. When you see a man who is good and Christlike, it is not 
because that man has the power in himself to be good, but it is 
because he has received that power from the Lord Jesus Christ. The 
light of the Sun of Righteousness has shone into that man's heart, 
and the light that goes out through his daily conduct and character, 
is only the light of the Son of God shining out through that man. 

All objects which live in the sunlight drink in this light-giving 
power, and all people who live daily in the light of the Sun of 
Righteousness will partake of His nature and of His character, and 
then live that nature and character in their own daily lives. In this 
way they do as Jesus commanded, let their lights so shine, that 
others seeing their good work, glorify their Father which is in 
heaven. 

You should be careful to note that Jesus does not say that we 
ourselves are to shine so that others may glorify us. No, not at all. 
Many people try to shine or to attract the attention of others to 
themselves, but that is not what Jesus said or meant, but rather the 
reverse. Neither are we to attempt to shine, or to attempt to attract 
the glory or honor to ourselves. Let not yourself so shine, but let 
your light so shine that others seeing your good works may glorify 
— not you, but your Father which is in heaven. We must let Jesus 
Christ shine in and through us. 



COAL AND WOOD. 



139 



Whenever you see men or women, or girls or boys who are liv- 
ing beautiful Christian lives, it is not they that light up the moral 
darkness that is in the world, it is Jesus Christ who lives in them and 
shines through them, that makes them good and holy, and conse- 
quently a source of light and blessing to all about them. 

Questions. — What does Christ call Himself? What is the source of the 
light of the natural world? Does the sun shine by its own light? Does the 
moon shine by its own light, or does it reflect the light of the sun? What is the 
source of light displayed when coal and wood and other substances are burned?. 
Does all natural light come from the sun? Who is the source of our spiritual 
light and knowledge ? Are the Church and Christian people lights in the world ? 
Do they shine of their own goodness like the sun, or are they like the moon in 
that they reflect the divine light ? Does any person have the power in himself to 
be good? Where does this power to be good come from? Does Christ want us 
to shine as lights in the world? Are we to let our lights shine to glorify our- 
selves, or to glorify Christ? 




CMB' 



LANTERNS. 



THE BEST LIGHT FOR OUR PATH. 



Suggestions — A lantern of any kind may be used. If one of the old- 
fashioned tin lanterns, perforated with holes through which the light was to 
shine, is available it would add greatly to the curiosity and interest of the chil- 
dren, although these are now very rare, as they were in use a half century ago. 

After "driving to church", and after preaching by the children and the 
reading of the following sermon on lanterns, a few Japanese lanterns — one for 
each of the children — would enable the parents to form a little torchlight pro- 
cession (although no lighted candles need be in the lanterns). After marching 
through the different rooms, give the children a talk upon the conditions existing 
in heathen lands like China and Japan, and the changes which are being wrought 
through the introduction of Christianity and the work of the missionaries. 

1DO not believe that there 
is a boy or girl here to-day 
who could tell me what this 
thing is, that I hold in my 
hand. It is a lantern, a very dif- 
ferent lantern possibly, from those 
which any of you have ever seen. 
This is the kind of lantern that 
your grandfather and my grand- 
father used many years ago, in the 
days when they did not have 
lamps, and gas, and electric lights, 
and such things as we enjoy to- 
day. When I was a small boy in 
the country we used to have only candles. 
140 




Old Lantern. 

Later on in life, I 



LANTERNS. 141 

remember when they first had fluid lamps, and then kerosene oil, 
and then gas, and then, as we have it now, electric lights. 

In the second congregation to which I ministered, there was an 
old gentleman who had one of these lanterns. He lived some dis- 
tance from the church, and very dark nights you could always see 
him coming across the hill, carrying this strange lantern. After the 
candle was lighted and placed inside, the light shone out through 
these small holes, and if the wind blew very hard, the light was 
liable to be blown out. 

Now, here is a better lantern. David says of God's Word, 
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." On 
a dark night in the country, you could not go out of doors and move 
about without running up against a tree, or the fence, or falling into 
the ditch, or soon finding yourself involved in serious difficulties; and 
on this account people in the country carry a lantern at night. In the 
Eastern countries where Jesus lived, where they did not have gas and 
electric lamps to light the streets, when people went out at night they 
always carried a lantern. And so David said, "Thy word is a 
lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Ps. cxix: 1 05.) 

When people go out of doors into the darkness with a lantern 
they do not hold it way up high, but hold it down near their feet, so 
that they can see the path, and it enables them to walk with security 
and safety. Sometimes there are men who have gone to college, 
and have learned Latin and Greek, have studied the sciences and 
philosophy, and they think they have learned a very great deal. 
Perhaps afterwards they have studied medicine and become physi- 
cians, or have read law and become lawyers, and they think that 
they are able with all they know to find the true path of blessing 
through life. They think they have light enough of themselves. 
They do not seem to know that all about them there is a darkness 
of great mystery; that sin and death and destruction lurk all along 




142 "Coming Across the Hill Carrying this Strange Lantern." 



LANTERNS. 143 

their way through life, and that their pathway is full of snares, and 
pitfalls, and dangers, but they try to walk with the little light that 
there is in the human understanding. 

There is another class of men who go through college and who 
may, perchance, study much, and the more they study the more they 
come to realize how little they know, and how much there is beyond 
them that they do not understand at all. With the little light of 
human understanding they comprehend how very dense and dark 
are the mysteries all about them, and so in order that they may 
walk safely through life, and come at last to the city of eternal 
safety, they take God's Word "as a lamp to their feet." Just the 
same as a person in the country carries a lamp in order that he may 
find his path, so these good people take the Word of God and they 
make it the lamp unto their feet, and the light unto their path. 

Boys and girls often look at learned men and women and 
think that when they get to be as old and to know as much as these 
people, that then they will know everything. But that is a great 
mistake. The more we know and the more learned we are, the more 
we discover that there is still further beyond us that which we do 
not understand. No one has ever been able to tell how the bread 
and the meat and potatoes and other food which we eat is made to 
sustain our life, how it is converted into and made a part of our- 
selves. How on our heads these things become, or are changed into 
hair, on the ends of our fingers to nails, and how other parts become 
flesh, and bone and eyes and ears and teeth. Nobody can under- 
stand how the ground in the garden can be changed by some life 
principle into fruit and vegetables and flowers and hundreds of dif- 
ferent things, and yet all this wonderful variety, all growing out of 
the very same soil, or ground as we call it. 

And so as you grow older and become more and more learned 
you will come more and more to appreciate how much there is that 



144 LANTERNS. 

you can never understand. There is mystery all about us, and we 
all need the light of divine truth, the light of God's Word, the Bible 
as a light to guide us through the darkness and the mysteries that are 
all about us. 

If you have ever been in the country upon a dark night and 
have seen the railway engine come dashing along, with the great 
headlight that throws the rays of light far down along the track 
enabling the engineer to see very far ahead of him, you would 
understand what the Bible purposes to do for us, when God says 
that He will make it a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. 

As you grow older, and sorrow and sickness and trials come to 
you, you will need God's Word to be a lamp unto your feet. And 
when at last the messenger of death shall come and summon you 
into God's presence, and you go through "the valley of the shadow 
of death," you will then need this lamp for your feet, and you will 
need the Lord Jesus Christ with you, that you may lean upon Him, 
and that you may say as David did: "Yea though I walk through 
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art 
with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." May God give 
you this light through the journey of this life, and bring you to that 
city of light and life on high. 

Questions. — Why did the people of the East carry lanterns at night? What 
did David call the Bible? Should the lantern be held above the head, or down 
near the feet? Which is the best light to our spiritual pathway, human wisdom 
or Divine revelation? Which is the safer light for us to follow, books which 
men write, or the book which God has given us? Can we understand all that 
we find in the book of nature? Can we understand all that we find 
in the book of revelation ? Do they both have the same author ? Is 
God infinitely greater than man? Does this explain to you why we cannot 
understand all that God has done or said? Can we put a bushel basket into a 
quart measure? — the smaller can not contain the larger. 



CANDLES. 

HOW TO REFLECT, OBSCURE, OR EXTINGUISH THE LIGHT. 

Suggestions — A candle, a silver dollar, a large-necked bottle and a flask- 
shaped bottle are the objects used. It will add to the interest of the children if 
the parent will show the simple experiments of placing the bottle over the 
candle to illustrate how quickly the light is extinguished as the oxygen is 
exhausted. The same is the result when a light is hid under a bushel. The 
flame may also be concealed by the dollar; and in a darkened room a polished 
piece of metal or a small looking-glass will show how the light can be reflected 
by money properly used in Christ's cause. 



M 



Y LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: To-day I have 
brought some candles in order to illustrate the text, "Ye 
are the light of the world." In a previous sermon I have 
shown you how all the light in the world is derived from 
the sun, and how all the light in the spiritual world is derived from 
Jesus Christ. Now, to-day I want to show you that we can extin- 
guish this light. While we cannot prevent the sun from shining, 
or put out the light there is in the sun, yet we can extinguish, or put 
out the light of a candle. We can blow out the light, we can turn 
off the gas, we can cut off the electrical current, and thus prevent the 
carbon from burning and giving light. Just the same as the firemen 
can extinguish a large fire that is making a great blaze in the midst 
of a dark night, so we can put out these several lights. 

Before this candle, which I hold in my hand, can be of any 
service to me in giving light, it must first itself be lighted. So it is 
with every person who is born into this world. He has no light in 
himself. Before ever he can exert any influence for good upon 

145 



146 



CANDLES. 



others, or let any Christian light shine, he must come to the Lord 
Jesus Christ and receive this light. He must be lighted from above. 
But now after the candle has been lighted, suppose that I take this 
silver dollar which I hold in my hand, and place it in front of the 
light, you will see immediately how it makes it impossible for the 
light to shine out in front of the dollar. Those who are sitting 
down there in front of me cannot see this light. The light is entirely 
concealed by the dollar. So some people allow the love of money 
to gather around their hearts, until at last their money is placed 

between them and the peo- 
ple whom God intends that 
they should benefit and bless 
in this world. Instead of 
being a help, their money is 
only a hindrance to their 
Christian life. They love 
their money so much that 
they permit the poor to go 
hungry, the destitute to be 
unblessed, and the Church 
to be without the money nec- 
essary to carry on its work. They allow the heathen to die in their 
ignorance. Selfishly grasping their money, they neglect to do that 
for which God has given them the means and the money. 

I believe that money is a good thing. The Bible says that it is 
the love of money, the undue love of it, that is the root of all evil. 
Money itself is a blessing and not a curse; therefore I want to show 
you how this dollar can be made to help in making this light shine 
even more brightly. You will see that if I have this side of the 
dollar ground off and polished, so that it is very smooth and bright 
like a little looking-glass, and then place it back of the candle, 




Light Obscured by Money. 



CANDLES. 



147 



instead of acting as it did when I placed the dollar between you and 
the candle, it will then reflect the light and throw the rays of light 
out further than they could otherwise shine. It helps to accomplish 
for the candle the same important service which the great reflector 
does when placed behind the lamp in the headlight of the railway 
engine, throwing the light way down the track in advance of the 
coming of the train. 

In the same way, when a Christian has money, you see how he 
can readily use it in such a way 
as to enable him to accomplish 
a very great and grand work in 
the world. The man who has 
lots of money and has a conse- 
crated heart, and who is willing 
to use his money to help him in 
his work for Christ, will be able 
to accomplish very much more 
than the man who has no 
money. He can use his money 
in such a way that it will enable 
him to cast a light in many a 
dark corner of the earth, to 
bring light in many a desolate home, and to cast the rays of his 
Christian influence even across the ocean into benighted heathen 
lands. In this way his money can be used as I could use this dollar 
if it were polished, and thus carry his influence to the ends of the 
earth and to the end of time, and become a great blessing to himself 
and to others for all eternity. 

Jesus said, "Men do not light a candle and put it under a 
bushel, but on a candle-stick that it may give light to all that are in 
the house." There are some people who do not like to let their light 




Money as a Reflector. 



148 



CANDLES. 



shine for Christ. They do not want others to know that they are 
Christians. They do not want others to know that they are trying 
to be good. And so they seek to conceal their light, to hide it, as 
Jesus says, "under a bushel." If you were to light a candle and put 
it under a bushel, or under a box, the box would prevent it from shin- 
ing, and therefore you would not know that there was any light at 
all in the room. 

But I want to show you, by the aid of this large necked bottle, 

what is the effect of our trying 
to hide our light. I have chosen 
this bottle because you can see 
through it, and observe what is 
going on inside of this glass 
bushel or bottle. The neck 
being very large, you can read- 
ily see that the light is not abso- 
lutely smothered. Now, when 
I place this bottle over the light, 
you will see how very quickly 
it begins to grow dim, and then 
more dim until it dies out alto- 
gether. There, you see, it has 
gone out already! Just as 
quickly as it burns out from the air in the bottle the oxygen which it 
contains, the light dies, because it has nothing to feed upon. If I 
had not placed this bottle over it, it would have continued to burn. 
Just so it is with those who try to hide their light under a bushel. 
After the light has been placed there, it gradually grows more 
faint, and more faint, and then goes out in darkness. You can 
never be a Christian if you are ashamed of Christ. You must be 
willing to let your light shine; you must be willing to confess Christ 




Light Under a Bushel. 



CANDLES. 



149 



before men; you must be willing to have other boys and girls know 
that you are a Christian, and that you are trying to do right. Then 
with God's help you will succeed. But if you try to hide your light 
under a bushel, you will never succeed in being a Christian. 

Here is another bottle. I am sure that the shape of this bottle 
will suggest to you the kind of stuff which is oftentimes sold in this 
kind of a flask. Sometimes when young men have given their 
hearts to Christ, and young women too for that matter, they go out 
in company and are invited to take a 
drink of wine or a drink of beer, or 
something else, and without any pur- 
pose or thought of ever becoming a 
drunkard, often they soon form the 
habit of drinking. Soon they have 
formed a love for the taste of liquor, 
and before ever they know it, like 
hundreds of thousands of others who 
have preceded them, they have 
become fond of liquor, and are on a 
fair road to become drunkards. As 
soon as a young man starts out in this - 
direction he takes the road that leads 
down to death and destruction, and 
the love of God which he had in his 

heart soon dies out. Let me place this bottle over the candle. You 
will now see how the candle begins to grow dim, and the light shines 
more and more dim, after a very few seconds, you will find that it 
goes out in darkness, the same as it did under the other bottle. 

Let me say to you, always carefully avoid the terrible and 
destructive influences of drink, of which this bottle is the symbol. 
If you want to keep the love of God in your heart you must never, 




A Dangerous Bottle. 



150 



CANDLES. 



never take the first step which leads toward the love of liquor, 
toward intemperance and a drunkard's grave. 

Questions. — Can an unlighted candle give light? Can a candle light 
itself? Who must first give us the light if we are to be a light to the world? 
Can the light of the candle shine through a silver dollar? If a silver dollar is 
polished like a little looking-glass and placed behind the light, what does it do? 
Does this suggest how we can use our money to send the light to the heathen? 
Under what kind of a measure does the Bible warn against hiding our light? 
When people light a candle, do they put it under a bushel or on a candlestick? 
If it is put under a bushel what is the result? Is that the result with people 
who are ashamed to be known as Christians? Does intoxicating drink often put 
out the light of Christian people ? How can all persons avoid the use of liquor ? 
(By never taking the first glass.) 




Daniel in the Lion's Den. 



A BROKEN CHAIN. 



BREAKING THE WHOLE LAW. 

Suggestion : — A chain of any kind, even a watch chain, will answer. Chil- 
dren could use paste-board and cut out ten links to represent the Ten Com- 
mandments. These links could be numbered and the older children could be 
asked to repeat the Ten Commandments in their order. 



M 



Y LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: I have here a 

chain; it is very strong indeed. It has ten links in it. 

You will remember how that, more than three thousand 

years ago, God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses 

on Mt. Sinai. These Ten Commandments are often called the 

Decalogue, because there are ten of them; the Greek word de\a 

means ten. 

Now the Bible 
tells us that * 'whoso- 
ever will keep the 
whole law, and yet 
offend in one point, 
he is guilty of all." 
(James ii: 10.) 

When a boy, I often wondered how it was that when a person 
broke one of the Commandments he was guilty of breaking the 
whole law. I could not understand it. Now, I desire to illustrate 
this truth to you to-day. Suppose that I were suspended over the 
edge of a great rock by this chain. If the chain should break, I 
would be plunged headlong, hundreds of feet down a very great 




A Broken Chain. 



10 



151 




152 



"Suspended Over the Edge of a Great Rock." 



A BROKEN CHAIN. 1 53 

embankment, upon rocks at the bottom of the chasm, and lose my 
life. You will readily see that it would not be necessary to break 
every link in this chain before I would begin to fall. In order to 
break this chain, it is only necessary to break a single link. The 
moment one link breaks, the entire continuity of the chain is broken. 

I think you will see that it is just the same way with the law 
of God. If you break one of these Commandments, you have 
broken the law. If you fail to "remember the Sabbath day to keep 
it holy," or if you disobey your parents, and thus break the Com- 
mandment which says, "honor thy father and thy mother," or any 
other of the Commandments — if you break a single one, you have 
broken the entire chain of the Ten Commandments. 

Now, there are a great many laws in this land of ours. There 
are laws against murder, and there are laws against stealing, and 
there are laws against getting drunk, and thousands of other laws. 
If a man simply steals and should be caught in the act and brought 
before the judge, he would be convicted of the crime and be sent to 
prison. It is not necessary that a man should be a murderer and a 
thief and a robber, and should be guilty of breaking all the laws of 
this land, before he is cast in prison. It is simply enough that he 
should have violated one law. By breaking only one law he 
becomes a criminal, and therefore he is cast into prison. The man 
who has committed but one murder has his entire liberty taken from 
him. The man who has been caught in the act of stealing but a 
single time is adjudged a thief, and all his liberty is taken from him. 

So I think you will see that, in order to become a criminal, it 
is not necessary that we should break all the laws of the land, but if 
we break a single law we become criminals. So it is with the law 
of God; if we break only one of the Ten Commandments we are 
criminals before God, we are guilty of all. 

Now the laws which men make in this and every other coun- 



1 54 A BROKEN CHAIN. 

try are human laws. They are not absolutely perfect. They are 
changed and improved from time to time. But the Psalmist tells 
us, and we all know it to be true, that "The law of the Lord is per- 
fect," and God requires us to keep His law. He says, "My son 
forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments; for 
length of days and long life and peace, shall they add to thee." 
(Prov. iii: 1.) If you and I are faithful in the keeping of God's 
law, then we can say like David, "I shall not be ashamed when I 
have respect unto all of thy commandments." (Psalm cxix: 6.) 

Now, if I take this chain, and attempt to break it, I find that 
God has not given me sufficient strength. Samson could have snap- 
ped it in a moment, but I am not strong enough. God has given to 
some men much more strength than to others. 

If I were to pull very hard on this chain so as to break it, 
where do you suppose it would break first? Why the weakest link 
in the entire chain would be the first to break. No chain is stronger 
than its weakest link. So it is with you and with me, our greatest 
goodness is no greater than our greatest weakness. When men want 
to think how good they are, they think of the best things they have 
ever done. But the fact is that no man is better than the worst 
things he has ever done. A man who has committed murder is a 
murderer. He might have done hundreds of good things, but the 
law does not estimate him by the best things he has done. The law 
estimates that man by the worst thing he has done, and by that 
worst thing he is judged and condemned. And so it is with you 
and me before God. The worst things which we have ever done 
will be the things which will condemn us in the sight of the Judge 
of all the world. 

While I am not able to break this metal chain, yet God has 
made it possible for every person to break the chain of the moral 
law. God has given human freedom to all men; He has told us 



A BROKEN CHAIN. 155 

what we should do, but He has left us free to obey or to 
disobey. 

Now, when we examine into the requirements of the Ten 
Commandments, we find that everybody has violated some one or 
more of them at some time. There is not a man or woman or child 
any where who is not guilty of having broken God's law. And 
when I turn to the Scriptures, I find in Galatians the third chapter, 
10th verse, that God says, "Cursed is every one that continueth not 
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." 
I see then by God's Word that we are all sinners, that we are all 
guilty before God, because we have violated His law, and next 
Sunday I will tell you what is to be done in view of the fact that we 
are all guilty before God. 

Questions. — What are the different parts of a chain called? How many 
links must be broken in order to break the chain? What did God give to 
Moses on Mount Sinai? How many commandments are there? Who makes 
the laws for the nation, the state and the city? Are laws perfect which are 
made by men? Do human laws change? Is God's law perfect? Do moral laws 
ever change? Was there ever a time or a place where it was right to lie, or 
steal or murder ? Will there ever be such a time or place ? How many murders 
must a man commit before he is a murderer? How often must he steal before 
he is a thief? Are men put into prison for breaking a single law? Is the 
entirety of God's law violated if we break only one commandment? 



LOOKING-GLASS. 

SEEING OURSELVES IN GOD'S LAW. 

Suggestion : — The object used is a looking-glass of any desired size. 

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: In my sermpn last 
Sunday, I showed you that God had made the law 
perfect, but that none of us has perfectly kept the law, 
that we have all broken the law, and God has said, 
"Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are 
written in the book of the law to do them." (Gal. iii: 10.) 

If the law is perfect, and no one has ever kept it perfectly, but 
all have broken the law in some one way or another, and on that 
account all are guilty before God, you may ask, what is the pur- 
pose of the law? Why did God make the law? Now, I desire to 
explain that to you to-day. 

I have here a looking-glass. Now the Bible compares the 
law to a looking-glass. In the epistle or letter of James, in the first 
chapter, we are told, "If any be a hearer of the word, and not a 
doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for 
he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forget- 
teth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the per- 
fect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful 
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his 
deed." (James i: 23-25.) 

In other words, the Bible means to say that the law of God 
is like a looking-glass. When we read the law of God, we see just 
what God requires that we should both be and do. He enables 

156 




Copyrighted, 1911, by Sylvanus Stall. 

Seeing Ourselves in the Looking -Glass of God's Law 



LOOKING-GLASS. 1 59 

us to see what He requires of us. It shows us also how imperfect 
we are. It shows us our sins. It reveals to us the importance of 
doing something in order to get rid of our sins. 

It is just like a man whose face is all dirty. When he goes to 
the looking-glass and looks into it he sees the dirt upon his face. If 
he did not look into the glass, other people might see that his face 
was dirty, but he would not see it himself. But when he looks 
into the glass, he sees for himself that his face is all black and dirty. 

Now, when the man finds that his face is all dirty, he does 
not take the looking-glass with which to wash his face. The look- 
ing-glass was not made to wash our faces with. It was only made 
to show us that our faces needed to be washed. And then, instead 
of using the looking-glass to wash our faces, we go and use soap 
and water. 

Now, the looking-glass did not make the man's face black, 
neither will it wash his face. It simply shows him that his face 
is dirty. 

So it is with the law of God. The law of God does not 
make us sinful. We are sinful, whether there be any law or not. 
The law is simply designed to show us that we are sinners, and 
that we are wicked, and that we need a Saviour. And when this 
law reveals to us our sin, and shows us our need of a Saviour, it 
purposes, as we are told in the Scriptures, to lead us to Christ 
(Galatians iii: 24.) No man can cleanse or wash away his sins 
by the aid of the law. But the law plainly shows him his sins, and 
then leads him to Christ — to the fountain which has been opened 
for sin and uncleanness. It is all very beautifully expressed in that 
hymn which, I trust, you all know: 

"There is a fountain filled with blood, 
Drawn from Immanuel's veins; 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, 
Lose all their guilty stains." 



] 60 LOOKING-GLASS. 

Now, I want to tell you the effect of coming to this fountain 
and washing. When we come to Christ our sins and guilt are 
washed away, and we become more like Christ. And then we 
grow up into His likeness and into His image. (Eph. iv: 13.) 
We become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ from day to 
day. This change which takes place in our hearts and in our lives 
is very wonderful. We cannot understand it, but we cease to be 
intentionally wicked. More and more we become holy. It is this 
wonderful change which is referred to in Second Corinthians, third 
chapter and the 18th verse, where it says, "But we all, with open 
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed 
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of 
the Lord." 

I think now, you will understand why we have the law. It 
is not to make us wicked, for we are wicked already. But it is to 
show us our wickedness, it is to reveal to us the fact that we are 
sinners, and that we are lost and undone without a Saviour. And 
then it reveals the Lord Jesus Christ to us, and we come to Him, 
the same as men with blackened faces go to the fountain to wash. So 
we come with our sins and our guilt "to the fountain which has been 
opened for sin and uncleanness," and we wash all our sins and guilt 
away; and then we are changed into His image and into His like- 
ness, from glory to glory, until at last, in the world on high, we 
awake in the likeness of Jesus. 

Questions. — To what does the Bible compare the law of God? For what 
purpose do people use a looking-glass? What does a man whose face is dirty 
see in the glass? What does it show that his face needs? Does it suggest that 
he should wash his face with the looking-glass? What does he use with which 
to wash his face? What does God's law show us? Does the law make us sin- 
ful ? Can the law remove the effects of sin ? Who is the fountain for the cleans- 
ing of our sin ? Are we saved by the law, or by the grace of God ? 



RAIN. 

GOD'S WISDOM AND POWER. 

Suggestion: — A bottle partly rilled with dust from the roadway will help 
to illustrate the condition which would quite universally prevail if the earth were 
not refreshed with frequent rains. 

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: In view of the fact 
that the weather is so very warm, the earth so dried and 
parched and we have had no rain for a period of weeks, 
I thought it might be useful to-day to consider what 
would be the result if God should withhold the rain altogether, 
and then to tell you how, or in what manner God brings us the rain 
and refreshes the earth and makes it fruitful. 

In order that you might see something of the present condi- 
tion of the earth, I have brought in this bottle some dust, taken from 
the centre of the road. As I turn the bottle around, you see how 
dry it is and how it floats in the air, leaving the inside of this bot- 
tle all powdered with dust. The dust in this bottle is only a sam- 
ple of what all the earth would soon become, if God did not send 
rain at frequent intervals throughout the year. I suppose you could 
all tell me of a number of instances in the Old Testament where 
we have accounts of drouths that extended throughout a period of 
years, and of the hunger and famine and death which followed. 

When you are out of doors and look about you, you cannot 
but be impressed with how dry and dusty the trees and grass and 
everything about you is. If this dry weather were to continue long 
you could understand that soon everything would wither and die, 

161 



162 RAIN. 

and if it were to continue for a few years, men and beasts would 
not only die of thirst, but even the air itself would suck out from our 
bodies the moisture that is in our blood, and death would speedily 
follow. But if you were to remove all the moisture from the air, 
the earth would not only become barren, but it would become 
intensely cold. It is due to the moisture which is in the atmosphere 
that the warmth which comes to the earth from the sun is retained 
near the earth after the sun has gone down. If it were not so, even 
in a summer's night after the sun has gone down, the coldness which 
exists above the clouds would quickly come in contact with the 
earth, and the cold would become so intense that every person and 
every living thing would be in danger of being frozen to death in 
a single night. 

You will remember that the great Sahara Desert is a vast 
tract of thousands of square miles where no rain falls, and where 
the heat is intense. There is, however, much moisture in the air 
that floats over the plains, but the reason that no rain falls is because 
there are no mountains in that portion of the globe for thousands of 
miles. 

Now suppose that there were to be no rain at all, and people 
should undertake to water the earth by bringing the water from the 
rivers. On an average of about thirty-three inches of rain fall upon 
the surface of the entire earth each year, in some places more, in 
others less. The weight of this water in one single square mile 
would be nearly two and one-half millions of tons, and if this 
water which falls upon one single square mile had to be drawn in 
cars, it would require 1 00,000 carloads of water to keep this one 
single mile as wet as God usually keeps it throughout the year by 
the rain from heaven. I think you will see, from what I have said, 
that all the cars in the entire United States, and there are hundreds 
of thousands of them, would not be sufficient to haul water from 



RAIN. 



163 



the rivers for any considerable distance to keep more than ten miles 
square of earth watered. But you can also see that if all these cars 
were to be run on a piece of ground only ten miles square, that 
entire piece of ground would be almost completely covered with 
railroad tracks, and we would scarcely be able to raise anything on 
it in the way of grain or vegetables or food of any kind. But even 
if we could successfully water ten miles square of land, what would 
that be compared with the absolute necessity of watering the entire 
continent and all the continents of the globe in order to make life 
possible upon the earth. Now the question arises, how does God 
accomplish this great result? 




Train of Cars. 

I suppose you have all noticed the teakettle when it is upon 
the stove and the steam is coming out of the spout, and around the 
lid. You have there had a practical demonstration of how God 
can cause the water, which is 800 times heavier than the atmos- 
phere or the air, to rise and float, for you know that any substance 
heavier than air will always fall to the earth. In the instance of 
the teakettle you will see how heat causes the water to become 
steam and thus to rise in the air and float aw&y, rising to the height 



64 



RAIN. 



of the clouds which float two, three and four and sometimes more 
miles high above the earth. 

Now, just in this same way God makes the heat from the rays 
of the sun to cause that from every river and lake and all the ex- 
panse of the ocean, as well as from the surface of the earth, there 
shall constantly arise a very fine vapor, which, although it is some- 
what like steam, is still so 
much finer that you and I 
cannot see it with our 
unaided eyes. It is by 
means of this vapor that 
God raises the moisture from 
the oceans and all bodies of 
water and from the earth, 
to fall again in gentle show- 
ers. 

But when this vapor 
has been lifted up from the 
ocean, you will see readily that if it were to descend again in rain 
upon the very places from which it had been lifted it would accom- 
plish no good. It is necessary that instead of falling back into 
the ocean and into the lakes and rivers, it must be carried over the 
land. So you see that we might aptly compare the vapor to a great 
pump, by means of which God lifts millions of gallons of water 
every hour from the sea into the atmosphere. 

Now just the same as men load grain and fruit and other 
things into the cars to ship them to some distant place, so God loads 
these vapors into the atmosphere or into the clouds. When the 
clouds are all loaded with vapor, or that which is to descend upon 
the earth in the form of rain, God sends the winds, and these 
winds blow the clouds from over the ocean far inward over the 




Steam Rising from Teakettle. 



RAIN. 



165 



land until they come to the place where God wants to pour them 
out in showers and rain, and in snow and blessing. 

But now, you will see that there is another difficulty. When 
all this vast quantity of water is held in the clouds, a mile or two 
above the earth, if it were to be poured out, it would come with such 




Clouds and Rain. 



force upon the earth that it would destroy every living thing. Now, 
as God used the warmth from the sun as His agent to lift the water 
into the clouds, so also, when He desires to unload the clouds, to 
pour the rain upon the earth, He causes the warm air which carries 
the water to be blown upon by the colder air which floats above it, 



166 RAIN. 

and as the heat lifted the water, so the cold causes it to descend; 
and immediately it begins to form as clouds, one particle or atom 
of moisture touches another, and the two form the larger atom, and 
these again unite with others, until finally a drop is formed, and it 
begins to descend and comes down in gentle showers upon the 
earth as though it were sifted through a very fine sieve. These 
small drops fall upon the earth so gently as not even to bruise the 
leaf of the tenderest flower or the tenderest insect that walks upon 
the earth. 

Possibly some children may not fully understand, but the 
older ones will get some idea of the vast quantity of water which 
God pours upon the earth, when they are reminded that all the 
water that flows in the rivers has been let down from the clouds. 
God is daily pumping up from the ocean and other bodies of 
water rivers as vast as the combined waters of the Mississippi, Mis- 
souri, Susquehanna, the Hudson, and every creek and streamlet 
and river that flows, not only on this continent, but in all the world. 
And God is doing this constantly by His own infinite wisdom and 
infinite might. The machinery with which men pump the water 
from the river for the supply of a single city wears out; but these 
great engines with which God is constantly keeping the earth sup- 
plied with water for man and beast, for tree and flower, for garden 
and field, never wear out. Truly with the prophet we may 
exclaim: "He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth 
them out on the face of the land: the Lord is His name." (Amos 
v: 8.) 

From what I have said I think you will all see how constantly 
we are dependent upon God for everything which we enjoy. If 
God were to withhold the rain or the sunshine, famine and want 
and death would soon follow. Yet in the most wonderful way 
God is constantly providing that with which we are daily to be fed 



RAIN. 167 

and always to be clothed. God is not unmindful of us. He never 
forgets, but in His own good time and in His own most wondrous 
way He sends us the rain and every needed blessing. 

God never forgets us, but I fear that we often forget Him and 
forget when we drink the refreshing glass of clear, cool water, that 
it is God who gave it to us. When you sit down at the table, do 
you remember that it is God who gives you the food, and do you 
thank Him for the food which He gives you, or do you, like the 
unmannerly boy who receives a gift and never thanks the donor, 
sit down and eat and go away without ever thanking God the 
Giver? When He watches over and keeps you during the night, 
do you forget to kneel down and thank Him in the morning? 
When day after day He clothes you, do you thank him? When 
He feeds and clothes you, do you love and serve Him, or do 
you accept of these blessings and then run off and serve Satan, 
God's great enemy? 

These are serious questions, and I trust you will think seri- 
ously of them, and daily, when you receive God's blessings, that 
you will turn to Him in grateful thanksgiving and faithful service. 

Questions. — What would the entire earth become if there should be no 
rain? If all moisture were removed from the atmosphere, what would be the 
result ? What is the average rainfall ? What is the weight of rainfall in a single 
square mile? How many cars would it require to carry water for one square 
mile ? How does God accomplish this ? How is the water raised up from the sea 
and the rivers ? Can you explain it by the teakettle ? Where does God store this 
vapor ? How do the clouds carry the moisture to the places which need it ? How 
does the moisture in the clouds fall? Does God do all things wisely and well? 
Is God ever unmindful of our needs? Do you ever forget to thank Him? Do 
you always remember to serve Him? 



M 



SNOW. 

THE LESSONS WHICH IT TEACHES. 

Y DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: When God desired 
to set Job to thinking, among other questions He asked 
him: Canst thou enter into the treasures of the snow? 
(Job xxxviii: 22.) While coming to church to-day, 
when I saw you frolicking and glad in the midst of the snow, which 
was falling all about you, I wondered whether you had ever stop- 
ped to think much about the snow. So I thought to ask you the 
question which God asked of Job nearly thirty-five hundred years 
ago: "Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?" 

When you were all so glad on account of this first snowstorm 
of the winter, did you stop to think that the snow comes from God? 
Now like everything else which comes from God, the snow is won- 
derful. No philosopher has ever yet been able fully to explain 
how the snow is formed and to tell us all about it, and I do not sup- 
pose that all the mysteries concerning it will ever be fully and per- 
fectly solved. It is wonderful, however, because it comes down so 
lightly and noiselessly. It drops upon the earth almost like feath- 
ers, covering the ground, hanging upon the limbs of the trees and 
shaping them into things of strange beauty, piling up on the post by 
the side of your gate, until perhaps it looks more like the white man 
from the flour mill than like that to which people tie horses. Yet it 
comes down so noiselessly that we scarcely notice it. 

When the snow falls upon the ground a foot deep it is said to 
be equal in weight to one inch of rain. Now one foot of snow, on 

168 



snow. 169 

one square mile of street, would weigh, it is estimated, about sixty- 
four thousand tons. If this snow, which covers only one square 
mile, were placed in wagons loaded with one ton each, and allow- 
ing sufficient space for these teams to move one behind another, 
these wagons would make a string or procession reaching from 
Philadelphia to New York, and from New York up the Hudson 
River almost to the city of Albany. I am sure you will be aston- 
ished at this, but when you consider that some snowstorms cover 
thousands of square miles, and are sometimes more than one foot 
deep, you will see how increasingly wonderful it is that all this 
great weight falls so gently upon the earth as to produce no disturb- 
ance, no shock, and generally goes away as quietly and peaceably 
as it came. 

Like everything else that God has made, the snow is very 
beautiful. Did you ever hear that poem which begins: 

"Beautiful snow! beautiful snow! 
Falling so lightly, 
Daily and nightly, 
Alike 'round the dwellings of the lofty and low; 
Horses are prancing, 
Cheerily dancing, 
Stirred with the spirit that comes from the snow." 

We oftentimes think that God is seen in the fields and flow- 
ers in the spring and summer, but He is also seen in the beautiful 
snow of winter. If you will let some of the snow fall upon the 
sleeve of your coat and then examine it carefully, you will be sur- 
prised at its beauty. It is beautiful when examined without a 
microscope, but much more beautiful and wonderful when examined 
with a microscope. Each flake is fashioned into stellar shape. It 
is formed and fashioned by the same hand which made the stars 
of the heavens and gave them their sparkle and beauty. Each 
11 



170 



SNOW. 



flake is a beautiful crystal. Each somewhat like the others, and yet 
no two exactly alike. There are hundreds of varieties, each beau- 
tiful and all glorious. These beautiful little snow stars are all 
formed with perfect geometrical accuracy. Some have three sides 
and angles, some six, others eight, and some have more. One 
resembles a sparkling cross, while others seem almost like the leaves 
of an open flower. Some are like single stars, others like double 
stars and clusters of stars ; and although the ground in winter is cov- 
ered with myriads of them, yet each one is formed with as much 

correctness and beauty 
as if God had made 
each one for special 
examination and as an 
exhibition of His 
infinite skill and 
divine perfection. 

But like every- 
thing else that God 
has made, the snow 
is also useful. You 
may possibly have 
thought of it as afford- 
ing excellent sport in 
sliding down hill, enabling you to enjoy a sleigh ride behind 
horses with jingling bells, affording opportunity for a snow- 
ball fight, or as furnishing the material for making snow men or 
snow houses. In all these ways the snow is a source of delight and 
pleasure to boys and girls, but after all, the snow has a special mis- 
sion in the world during the severe cold of the winter. 

The severity of the cold is often greatly modified by the pres- 
ence of snow. The snow forms a warm mantle to protect the grass 




Snow-flakes Magnified. 




A Winter Sleigh Ride. 



171 



1 72 snow. 

and grain fields. It wraps its soft warm covering around the plants, 
and thus protects them from the frost. Many animals also take shel- 
ter in the banks of snow, and are thus kept from being frozen to 
death. The snow of winter is as important in securing our food 
and blessing as the rain of the summer. As intense heat and the 
absence of rain produce the great deserts of the earth, so intense 
cold and the absence of snow would produce barren tracts upon the 
earth. 

Now, what are the lessons we may learn from what I have 
said? I think the first lesson that we may learn is that God does 
everything perfectly. God is not in a hurry, as boys and girls often 
are when they do not take time to learn their lessons thoroughly or 
to do their work carefully. Perfection is one of God's attributes. 
We are impatient and imperfect. But God wants us to be perfect. 
We should constantly strive after perfection. We are to seek after 
perfection here upon earth, and although we cannot hope to attain 
it fully in this world, yet we shall attain unto it in the world of 
blessedness beyond. Remember that whatever is worth doing at 
all is worth doing well. 

I think the second lesson that we may learn from what I have 
said, is that God does everything with some good purpose in view. 
God not only has a purpose in all that He does, but He has a pur- 
pose for good. Some boys and girls do things with a bad purpose. 
Now, God does not do anything with a bad purpose, and He would 
not have us do anything with a bad purpose. He has given us life 
and being upon the earth in order that we may accomplish some- 
thing grand and good. What is the purpose of your life? What 
have you resolved to make the object which you shall seek to attain 
in this life? Have some noble purpose, some high aim in life. 
Whatever it shall be, let it always have in view the blessing and 
good of others and the glory of God. 



snow. 173 

The last lesson from this study of the snow is that God has 
made it a symbol of purity. God is pure, and He wants us to be 
pure. Do you put tobacco in your mouth? Then your mouth is not 
pure. Do you use bad words? If so, your mouth is not pure. Do 
you use your eyes to read worthless story papers and books, or to 
look at evil pictures? Then your eyes and thoughts are not pure. 
Do you permit your ears to listen to improper talk? Then your 
ears and mind are not pure. Do you harbor bad thoughts in your 
heart? Then your heart is not pure. Do you defile your body by 
improper eating and drinking? If you do, then your body is not 
pure. If you and I desire to be pure, we must go to God and earn- 
estly ask Him as David did when he cried unto God and said, 
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall 
be whiter than snow." 

Now let us sing this beautiful hymn: 

"Wash me and I shall be whiter than the snow." 

Questions. — About what did God ask Job, to set him thinking? Where 
does the snow come from? Does anyone know fully how the snow is formed? 
Is the snow as wonderful as it is beautiful? What do the flakes look like? 
Are they all formed alike ? Are any two exactly alike ? How is the snow useful 
in winter? Is snow as important in the winter as rain in the summer? Is God 
ever in a hurry? Are you always patient? What is worth doing well? Does 
God always have a purpose in whatever He does? Does God expect us to have 
a noble purpose? Of what is snow the symbol? Does God expect us all to be 
pure? 



PLASTIC FACE. 

CHARACTER IN THE COUNTENANCE. 

Suggestion : — The object used is a small plastic face such as are often sold 
in toy stores, and even on the streets in large cities. The head of a rubber doll 
would also answer the purpose. 

A couple of pictures of faces placed in bottles would illustrate the fact that 
as the faces are seen through the bottles, so our thoughts are not wholly hidden 
but shine through our faces. 



M 



Y DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: Here is a soft plastic 
face; by squeezing it on the side I can make the face 
very long, and it looks very sober. If I place the face 
between my thumb and fingers and press upon the chin 
and forehead it makes the face short, and makes it have a very 
pleasant appearance. I can make it look as though it were laugh- 
ing, or make it seem to be angry and cross. 

Just so is it with our faces. When we feel pleasant our faces 
are short and drawn up; when we feel sober, or cross, or angry, 
they are lengthened and the character of the expression is entirely 
changed. You would scarcely know the face were you to see it 
radiant with smiles and pleasantness, and afterwards see the same 
face when the person is cross or angered. When you look at a per- 
son you can tell whether they are in good humor, or whether they 
are displeased or angry. 

Do you know, boys and girls, that our character and our dis- 
position are seen in our faces? It is impossible for us to conceal our 
174 



PLASTIC FACE. 



175 



real selves, even though we might try. I will tell you how it is. If 
I were again and again to press this face only in this way, so as to 
make it look very long, after a time it would retain this expression. 
If I were to press it in this other way, so as to make it very short and 
give it a very pleasant expression, and were to hold it in that posi- 
tion for a very long time, it would assume that expression, and 




Frowns and Smiles. 

retain it constantly. It is just so with our faces. When a boy is 
angered again and again the deep lines of his face become more 
and more permanent, until after a time he comes to have a face 
which expresses anger. If a boy is kind and good and generous, 
these feelings express themselves in his face, and if repeated over 
and over again, day after day and year after year, it becomes a per- 



1 76 PLASTIC FACE. 

manent expression upon his face and the boy is known by all who 
meet him as a good-natured, pleasant and agreeable boy. 

I suppose that most all the boys and girls here can tell a min- 
ister when they meet him on the street. And when you grow older 
I think you will not only be able to tell that it is a minister, but you 
may be able to tell, possibly to what denomination the man belongs 
— whether he is a Methodist, or a Presbyterian, or an Episcopalian 
or a Lutheran, or to what denomination he belongs. This cannot 
always be told, but in many instances this can be judged quite 
accurately. The study of the Bible and the contemplation of holy 
and good things inscribe themselves indelibly upon the face of 
those who give them thought and attention. 

Beneath a good and generous face you will find a good and 
generous heart. Beneath a bad face you will find a bad heart. If 
we are Christians we shall become more and more like Christ. We 
shall grow up into His likeness, and into His image, and into His 
stature. We are told that not only will we become more and more 
like Him, but that at last, in the great Resurrection, we shall 
behold Him as He is, and we shall be like Him. 

If I were to take some pictures and place them in a bottle they 
would shine out through the glass, and you could see them. So 
with the thoughts that are in your heart; they shine out through 
your face and give expressions to it. Even when the body is suffer- 
ing pain the heart may be at rest. David, the Psalmist, said that 
God was "the health of his countenance." Even though his body 
was suffering pain his face might be pleasant, because God was 
with him, making him happy in his heart. There is an old adage 
that says, "handsome is, that handsome does." There are some 
young persons who may have a pretty face, and yet who may not 
be righteous and holy in their hearts; but as they grow older their 
character will shine out more and more, until at last their face shall 



PLASTIC FACE. 1 77 

be entirely changed, and all that is bad in their hearts will appear 
in their faces. If you want a good face you must have a good 
heart. Take Jesus into your heart, follow His teachings and imi- 
tate His example, and from year to year you will grow more and 
more like Him. Here is a very appropriate and beautiful poem, 
which was written by Miss Alice Carey. 



TAKE CARE. 

"Little children, you must seek 
Rather to be good than wise, 
For the thoughts you do not speak 
Shine out in your cheeks and eyes. 

"If you think that you can be 
Cross or cruel, and look fair, 
Let me tell you how to see 

You are quite mistaken there. 

"Go and stand before the glass, 
And some ugly thought contrive, 
And my word will come to pass 
Just as sure as you're alive ! 

"What you have and what you lack, 

All the same as what you wear, 
You will see reflected back ; 
So, any little folks, take care ! 

"And not only in the glass 

Will your secrets come to view ; 
All beholders, as they pass, 

Will perceive and know them, too. 

"Out of sight, my boys and girls, 
Every root of beauty starts ; 
So think less about your curls, 

More about your minds and hearts. 



178 PLASTIC FACE. 

"Cherish what is good, and drive 
Evil thoughts and feelings far ; 
For, as sure as you're alive, 
You will show for what you are." 

Questions. — Hbw will a plastic face look when you squeeze it on the head 
and on the chin ? When persons are serious or angry, are their faces lengthened ? 
When people laugh what happens to their faces? Suppose one were to he 
cross and ugly constantly what would occur? If a person were to laugh con- 
stantly, what would be the effect upon their face ? Can you tell a minister when 
you see him? If you put pictures in a bottle do they shine through? Do 
thoughts in the heart shine through the face? Can you repeat that couplet 
which begins: "Handsome is — "? If we think Christ's thoughts constantly do 
we become more like Christ? If we think bad thoughts do we become unlike 
Him? What book is it which says: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he"? 




SEEDS. 



THOUGHTS, WORDS, DEEDS — THEIR LIFE AND PERPETUITY. 

Suggestion: — Seeds, or grain and fruit of any kind can be used for illus- 
tration. 



M 



Y YOUNG FRIENDS: I have here to-day quite a 

variety of seeds. Some of them are very small, and 

some, as you see, are quite large. The seeds of each 

class have in them a principle of life, which makes them 

differ from sand, or small stones of similar size, because if I plant 

these seeds in the ground they will grow. 

When you take 
different kinds of 
seeds, there is one 
thing that is very 
interesting about 
them. It is the dif- 
ferent kinds of cov- 
erings in which they 
grow. For instance, 
if you take a chest- 
nut, it grows in a 

Different Kinds of Seeds. burr with S h a r p 

thorny points; others are folded as though rolled up very tightly 
in leaves, as you will find in the hazel nut or filbert. Some seeds 
grow in rows, like beans and peas in a pod. Some grow in a very 
soft bed, like cotton seeds. Some grow imbedded in a downy sub- 

179 




1 80 SEEDS. 

stance which blows all around, carrying the seed with it, like the 
thistle, and the light fuzz of the dandelion. Sometimes the seed is 
buried in the inside of fruit, as in the case of apples, pears, peaches, 
plums, and various other kinds of fruit. Sometimes it is buried 
beneath the beautiful leaves of the flower. So you see there is 
great variety. 

Now, these seeds may represent words. There are a great 
many varieties of words. All words have the principle of life in 
them, because they express thought; and these thoughts when 
received into our minds develop into action. Therefore we say 
that words have a principle of life in them, and it is important that 
we should be careful not to permit bad words to have a place in our 
minds. Very often you will see boys and girls reading worthless 
papers which they think will do them no injury. But the fact is, 
that these boys are influenced in all their living by that which they 
read in these papers. It might be very light and trifling, but it tends 
to corrupt the mind, to give the boy false ideas of life, and it gives 
him such opinions as are not real, and therefore very injurious to 
any one. It is much better that a boy's valuable time should be 
spent in reading good books and good papers, and securing such 
information as will be of value and assistance to him all through 
life. For the life of every boy and of every girl is a very great 
struggle, and no boy or girl can afford to waste time in the begin- 
ning. If they are ever to amount to anything in this world, it is 
important that they should begin very early in life. 

I want to call your attention to another characteristic of these 
seeds. And that is when a single seed is planted, it grows up and 
produces a very great number of other seeds. If you plant a seed 
of wheat, it will produce 30, 60, or sometimes 1 00 other seeds. If 
you plant one sunflower seed it might produce as many as 4,000 
seeds. If you plant one single thistle seed, it has been known to 



SEEDS. 181 

produce as high as 24,000 seeds in a single summer. If you were 
to plant only one grain of corn and let it grow until it is ripe, and 
then plant the seeds again which grew on these few ears of corn, 
and thus continue to re-plant again and again, we are told by those 
who have calculated it very carefully, that in only five short years 
the amount of corn that could be grown as the result of the planting 
of the one single seed would be sufficient to plant a hill of corn, 
with three grains in every square yard of all the dry land on all the 
earth. In ten years the product would be sufficient to plant not 
only this entire world, both land and sea, but all the planets, or 
worlds which circle around our sun, and some of them are even a 
thousand times larger than our own globe. So you see that there is 
wonderful multiplying power in the different kinds of grain which 
you plant. 

So it is with the thoughts and the words which we have in 
our minds. Good thoughts enter into good acts, and these acts 
influence others just as though the same thought was sown into 
their minds, and then it springs up into their lives and influences 
them. Just so when we have read a book, whether the book is 
good or bad, its influence goes on reproducing itself, over and over 
again in our lives, every time in a multiplied form. Suppose with 
your money you send some Bibles to the heathen, and as a result a 
single person is converted. Immediately that person would influ- 
ence other heathen people whom he would meet, and so, one after 
the other, these heathen would be influenced as the result of what 
you have done. This good influence would go on repeating itself 
over and over again, as long as the world shall stand, and only in 
eternity would the wonderful results of what you have done be 
fully known. So it is with all that we say and all that we do; it 
goes on repeating and multiplying itself over and over again. 

Now, there is another interesting feature of these seeds to 



82 



SEEDS. 



which I want to call your attention. And that is that the life in 
the seed may continue for a very long time, even hundreds of years. 




Pyramids. 

Over in Egypt, centuries ago, they built large pyramids, and when 
a king died, instead of burying his body in the ground, they 

embalmed it with spices and dried 
it, so that it would not decay. 
Then they wrapped it up in cloths, 
and with these cloths and band- 
ages they sometimes wrapped 
wheat or some other kind of grain. 
Some of these mummies, for so 
they are called, which have been 
buried possibly twenty-five hun- 
dred years, have been found; and 
when the wheat has been taken 
out of the hands of these mummies 
and planted in the ground, under 
favorable conditions, it has 
grown just the same as the wheat 
which was harvested from the 
fields only last summer. The life which was in the seed had not 
been destroyed by the many hundreds of years which have passed 
since it was placed in the hand of the mummy. 




Egyptian Mummies. 



SEEDS. 183 

Some years ago there was a very interesting case of this kind in 
England. At Dorchester they were digging down some thirty feet 
below the surface, and at that depth they came upon the remains of 
the body of a man, with which there had been buried some coins. 
By the date upon the coins, they knew that this body had been 
buried at least seventeen hundred years. In the stomach was 
found quite a large quantity of raspberry seeds. The man had 
doubtless eaten a large number of raspberries, and then might have 
been accidentally killed very soon afterward, so that the seeds were 
not injured by the gastric juices of the stomach. These seeds were 
taken to the Horticultural Garden, and there they were planted. 
What do you think! After seventeen hundred years and more, 
these seeds grew, and in a short time there was an abundant fruit- 
age of raspberries, just the same as though the seeds had been gath- 
ered from raspberries which grew only the year before. Although 
hidden and seemingly dead, yet these seeds retained their life for 
seventeen hundred years or more. 

In this same way there is a deathless power in the words which 
we speak, even though they are spoken hastily and without thought 
upon our part. Our words have in them the element of a life 
which is well-nigh endless. You may yourself remember some 
unkind words which were spoken to you months and months ago. 
The boy or girl who spoke them may have forgotten all about 
them, but you still remember them, and they cause you pain every 
time you think of them. Or it may be that some kind person has 
spoken tenderly and affectionately to you. The person himself 
may have been so accustomed to speaking kindly that he forgot 
entirely what he had said, but his kind words still live in your 
memory. There is a beautiful hymn written some years ago, 
which begins: "Kind words can never die." 

About fifty years ago there were some boys in a school yard 



184 SEEDS. 

playing marbles. Two other boys were playing tag. One of the 
boys who were playing tag chanced to run across the ring in which 
the boys were playing marbles. One of these boys was accus- 
tomed to speaking ugly words and doing very hasty and cruel 
things. He sprang to his feet and kicked the boy who had run 
across the ring, wounding him in the right knee. The injury was 
of such a nature that the bones of that leg below the knee never 
grew any more, and as a result, for over forty years that boy has 
had to walk on crutches. You see how permanent the result of 
this injury has been; and the results of unkind words may be just 
as injurious and no less permanent than the unreasonable and 
wicked thing which this boy did in his anger. 

You may sometimes be discouraged because the kind words 
which you speak and the kind deeds which you do seem to fail of 
a good result. But you can be assured that even though you grow 
to old age and your body were to be laid away in the grave, yet 
sometime, in the lives of those who come after you, the good you 
have done will surely bear its fruitage of blessing. 

Questions. — Are there many different kinds of seeds? Do apple trees 
ever grow from peach seeds? Do good thoughts grow from bad words, or bad 
thoughts from good words? Do seeds have a principle of life in them? Do 
words and thoughts have a principle of life? How many centuries have seeds 
been known to retain their life? Have the teachings of the Bible retained their 
life for many hundreds of years? Into what do good thoughts turn? (Acts). 
Into what do good acts turn? (Character). Can any boy or girl afford to use 
their time in reading worthless books or papers? Do words and deeds have 
the element of unending life in them? Is it a dangerous thing to get angry? 
What did one of the boys who were playing marbles do to the boy who ran 
across the ring? As the result, how many years has the injured boy walked 
with crutches? Will the good that we do be as permanent as the evil that we 
might do? 



SOWING. 

THE SPRING TIME OF LIFE. 

Suggestion: — The object used is a bag or sack, or a pillow slip would 
answer the same purpose, hung about the neck as a farmer uses it when sowing 
seed. While this is not essential, it can be used if desired. 



M 



Y DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: Spring is the most 
pleasant season of the year; the snow has melted, the 
cold weather has passed away, and now the warm, 
pleasant days have come. The trees are all in blossom, 
the fields look beautiful, and the air is full of sweetness. If you 
go into the country at this season of the year you will find the 
farmers plowing their fields, and some are sowing grain. The 
spring wheat has already been sown, the oat fields will soon begin 
to look green, and in the course of a few weeks the farmers will be 
planting their corn. 

It must have been at a corresponding period of the year in 
the East, when Jesus spoke those beautiful words which are found 
in the 1 3th chapter of St. Matthew, contained in the parable of the 
sower who went out to sow. A great multitude of people had gath- 
ered to hear the words which fell from the lips of Jesus. They 
could no longer gain admission into the house, and so Jesus went 
down by the sea, or the large lake, and getting into a boat he pushed 
out just a little way from the shore, so all the people standing along 
the shore could see and hear Him, and then He began to preach to 
them. Just back of them on the plain was a farmer who was more 
intent upon sowing his field than upon listening to the words of the 
12 j 85 



186 SOWING. 

Saviour. As Jesus saw him pacing to and fro across the field, scat- 
tering the grain in the furrows, Jesus very likely pointed to the man, 
calling the attention of the multitude to what he was doing, and 
said to the people, "Behold a sower went forth to sow," and then 
called the attention of the people to the character of the soil in the 
different places where the seed fell. 

In the country the farmers use a sack or bag. After having 
tied the opposite ends together, they hang this over their neck and 
shoulder, and with the right hand left free, they march up and 
down the field, sowing the grain. This sowing is not so common 
any more, because farmers now often plant their grain fields with a 
machine called a drill. 

With this sack suspended about the neck, in this way, the 
farmer reaches in and takes out a small handful of seed, and then 
swinging his hand, throws the seed over a considerable portion of 
the ground. Thus he walks from one end of the field to the other, 
sowing the seed, until he has the entire field sown and ready for the 
men who follow with the harrow to cover up the grain. 

Well, boys and girls, this is the spring-time of life with you. 
These are the pleasant days and years of your life. You have very 
little care. Yet it is, nevertheless, the spring-time. You are now 
making preparations which will tell what is to be the harvest in the 
later years of your lives. As the farmer goes out and plows the 
field, so by discipline and by counsel, and by instruction are your 
parents preparing your minds and hearts that in after years you may 
enjoy a harvest of great blessing. 

In the spring-time of life, when young persons are to do the 
sowing, they need much careful counsel and instruction. I suppose 
that there are many boys and girls who, if they were to go into the 
country, could not tell the difference between wheat and barley, or 
oats and rye. Some might not even be able to distinguish between 




Copyrighted, 1911, by Sylvanus Stall. 



Behold a Sower went Forth to Sow 



SOWING. 



189 



oats and buckwheat. If the farmer were to send you out to sow, 
you would, most likely, sow the wrong kind of grain. In the same 
manner, it is important that you should be directed by your parents, 
because they can distinguish between right and wrong. They 
know what you should do, and what you should not do. There- 
fore it is important that they 
should direct you in the spring- 
time, lest you should sow the 
wrong kind of grain. And you 
know the Bible says: "What- 
soever a man soweth, that shall 
he also reap." 

It is not only difficult for 
those who have never seen 
something of life in the country, 
to distinguish between the dif- 
ferent kinds of grain which the 
farmer sows, but even after the 
grain begins to grow, it is some- 
times difficult, even for those 
who are familiar with country 
life, to distinguish between the 
true and the false. In that 
same thirteenth chapter of the 
gospel by St. Matthew, to 
which I referred in the begin- 
ning, Jesus tells of a farmer who sowed his field with wheat, and 
while he slept an enemy came and sowed tares. Of course he 
could not discover this until the grain began to grow. When it 
began to get ripe, then for the first could he distinguish between 
the stalks of the wheat and the stalks of the tares. By doing this 




Wheat and Tares. 



1 90 SOWING. 

wicked thing the enemy gave the farmer a great deal of trouble. 
Just so it is with you when you have tried to do right, Satan comes 
and puts evil thoughts and wicked purposes into your mind, and 
then if you permit these to grow up, you will find that they will 
give you a great deal of trouble. It is important that only the good 
seed should be sown in the field of your heart, and in the field of 
your mind, so that you may have a fruitage that shall be wholly 
good. 

Sometimes you see boys and girls who are doing things 
which you would like to do, but your mother and father tell you 
that you should not. You may not be pleased because you are 
restrained from doing what you would like to do. I well remem- 
ber how my father, when I was a boy, oftentimes used to restrain 
me from doing what I saw other boys doing. I used to think, at 
that time, that he was not considerate, and possibly not kind to me. 
But now that I have grown older, and have seen the results which 
have come to those boys, some of whom have gone astray, and 
others who have turned out badly in life, I see how wise my father 
was. Although I did not feel at the time that he was doing that 
which was for my good; now I see it all very plainly. 

In closing, let me say to you, do as Isaiah suggested, "Sow by 
the side of all waters." That is, be very diligent, that day by day 
you may do some kind act, which will hereafter spring up into a 
fruitage of very great good. The Bible enjoins upon both young 
and old to be very diligent in this work, for it says, "In the morn- 
ing sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for 
thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or 
whether they both shall be alike good." (Eccl. xi: 6.) 

When you go to school during the week, and to Sunday- 
school and church service on Sunday, and when being instructed 
and taught at home, remember that all the instruction you are 



SOWING, 



191 



receiving is like the seed that falls upon the waiting soil in the 
early spring-time from the hand of an intelligent farmer. In the 
parable which Jesus spake, He tells how that some of the seed fell 
by the wayside, some among thorns and some upon stony ground, 
while others fell upon good ground. While the seed was the 
same kind in all instances, it was only that which fell upon the 
good ground which brought forth a fruitage of thirty, sixty and an 
hundred fold. If the fruitage of your life in the harvest of the 
after-years is to be abundant in good and blessing, it can only be 
because you receive the instruction of your parents, your teachers 
and your pastor into a good and honest heart. Others may sow 
faithfully, but after all the result must depend upon you. 

Questions. — Which is the most pleasant season of the year ? Why ? What 
is the farmer's special work in the spring-time? Why is the farmer careful to 
sow good grain? What period of life is best represented by spring? If the 
farmer failed to sow in the spring, would he have a harvest in the autumn? 
How does he know what kind of grain he will reap at harvest time ? Does wheat 
ever produce oats? Or clover seed produce wheat? What happened while the 
farmer slept? Who sowed the tares in his field? Who sows the tares in our 
minds? What do we call these tares? Should they be removed or permitted to 
grow? Should we be thankful to our parents for preventing tares from being 
sown? In what kind of soil did the grain grow to a fruitage of thirty, sixty 
and an hundred fold? 




REAPING. 



THE HARVEST TIME OF LIFE. 

Suggestion : — The object used is a small sheaf of grain. For this might 
be substituted fruitage of any kind — apples, peaches, pears, grapes, etc., and 
after reading the sermon, the parent could apply in the manner suited to the 
objects used. 



M 



Y DEAR LITTLE HARVESTERS: Last Sunday 
I talked to you of spring-time — the spring-time of the 
year, and the spring-time of life. To-day I have 
brought a small sheaf of grain to tell us of the harvest- 
time. The spring-time is very pleasant, the air is fragrant, the 

birds are singing, and all nature 
seems to be rejoicing in its freshness 
and beauty. The world looks just 
as new and beautiful as it did thou- 
sands and thousands of years ago. 
Each spring it puts on youth anew. 
But when the summer-time 
comes, when it gets along to 
the harvest time, along in July 
and August, then the weather is 
very warm. The color of the fields 
has then greatly changed, the blos- 
soms have disappeared from the 
trees, and we find that everywhere the fruit is beginning to appear. 
The harvest fields are ripe and are waiting for the husbandmen. 
192 




Sheaf of Grain. 



REAPING. 193 

There is just about that same difference in life. Youth is the 
spring-time. It is full of hope, and full of bright prospects. But, 
as we grow older, and the cares and responsibilities of life multi- 
ply, then we begin to bear the toil and labor which comes with the 
later years. Then we are like the farmer who enters into the har- 
vest field where hard work has to be done under a very hot and 
scorching sun. 

A man, called a naturalist, who has devoted a large amount 
of time to the study of plants, tells us that there are about one hun- 
dred thousand different kinds of plants. Each kind of plant bears 
its own seed, and when that particular seed is sown, it always bears 
its own kind of fruit. Wheat never yields barley, nor do oats ever 
yield buckwheat. When you plant potatoes, you expect to gather 
potatoes and not turnips. An apple tree has never grown from an 
acorn, or a peach tree from a chestnut. Each seed, always and 
everywhere, bears its own kind. It is on this account that the Bible 
says, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man 
soweth that shall he also reap." (Gal. vi: 7.) 

There are some grown persons, as well as children, who 
think that they can do very wrong things while they are young, 
and afterwards suffer no bad results. People sometimes say, 
"Oh, well! let us sow our wild oats while we are young." Now 
the Bible tells us that if we sow wild oats, we must reap wild oats. 
Four or five handfuls of wild oats will produce a whole bag full 
of wild oats when gathered in the harvest of after life. Be assured, 
my dear friend, that "those who sow to the flesh shall of the flesh 
reap corruption," and "those who sow the wind shall reap the 
whirlwind." "Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, 
and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a des- 
tiny. 

It may seem a long period between the spring and the harvest 




194 "The Harvest Fields Are Ripe and Are Waiting for the Husbandmen.' 



REAPING. 195 

time of life; but be assured, my dear young friends, that the early 
years will speedily pass. Before you are aware of it, you will be 
men and women with all the responsibilities of life upon you, and 
then you will be sure to reap the reward of what you do now while 
you are boys and girls. Lord Bacon said that "Nature owes us 
many a debt until we are old," but nature is always sure to pay its 
debts. The ancients had an adage that said, "Justice travels with 
a sore foot," but it usually overtakes a man. 

A few Sundays ago I told you that as the result of planting 
a single grain of corn, a fruitage sufficient to plant the entire earth 
might be secured in only five years. It is told us by historians that, 
in olden times, the harvest in Egypt and Syria would return an 
hundred fold for one sowing, and in Babylonia oftentimes two 
hundred fold for one sowing. Now, if a single grain of wheat 
were planted in soil as fertile as that of Egypt, at the end of eight 
years of sowing and reaping, if we had a field large enough, the 
product would be sufficient to feed all the families of the earth 
for more than a year and a half. But if we were to undertake to 
plant one grain of wheat in this way, after a few years we would 
fill all the fields which would be suited for a wheat harvest. Down 
near the equator it would be too hot for the wheat to grow success- 
fully. In the north it would be altogether too cold. On the moun- 
tain side the soil is not fertile, and oftentimes is very rocky. For 
these, and various other reasons, it would be impossible to cover 
any large portion of the earth with wheat, for not every portion 
would be suited to produce a harvest. Were it not for this fact, 
in the course of seven or eight years, the entire earth might be made 
to wave as one vast field of wheat. 

But there is one truth which God has planted in this world. 
That truth is God's love manifested in the gift of His Son Jesus 
Christ for the salvation of all mankind. This truth is suited to 



196 REAPING. 

every age of the world, to every nation of the earth, to all classes 
and all conditions of people, and to every human heart. During 
the past centuries men have been planting and replanting this seed 
of divine truth, sowing and resowing the earth with it, gathering 
and reaping the harvest and sowing again. And the days are 
coming when all the earth shall wave as one vast harvest field, 
waiting for the reapers of God, who shall gather this blessed fruit- 
age into the garner of the skies. 

It is your privilege and my privilege, both one and all, to have 
some part in this glorious work of sowing and resowing, and the 
Scriptures assure us that "he that goeth forth and weepeth, bear- 
ing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bring- 
ing his sheaves with him." (Psalms cxxvi: 6.) 

AFTERWARD. 

ANONYMOUS. 

Now, the sowing and the reaping, 

Working hard and waiting long; 
Afterward, the golden reaping, 

Harvest home and grateful song. 

Now, the pruning, sharp, unsparing, 

Scattered blossom, bleeding shoot; 
Afterward, the plenteous bearing 

Of the Master's pleasant fruit. 

Now, the plunge, the briny burden, 

Blind, faint gropings in the sea; 
Afterward, the pearly guerdon, 

That shall make the diver free. 

Now, the long and toilsome duty, 

Stone by stone to carve and bring; 
Afterward, the perfect beauty 

Of the palace of the king. 



REAPING. 197 

Now, the tuning and the tension, 

Wailing minors, discord strong; 
Afterward, the grand ascension 

Of the Alleluia song. 

Now, the spirit conflict-riven, 

Wounded heart, unequal strife; 
Afterward, the triumph given 

And the victor's crown of life. 

Now, the training strange and lowly, 

Unexplained and tedious now, 
Afterward, the service holy, 

And the Master's "Enter thou 1" 

Questions. — Last Sunday our lesson was about the spring-time and sow- 
ing; what has it been about to-day? What are the only results which a farmer 
can reap at harvest? If he sowed wheat, what will he gather? About how many 
different kinds of plants are there in the world? Do peach trees grow from 
chestnuts? The Bible says, "Whatsoever a man soweth" — can you repeat the 
rest of that passage? Can boys or young men, girls or young women, sow "wild 
oats" and reap blessing later on? If we sow "wild oats" what must we reap? 
If you sow an act, what do you reap? If you sow a habit, what do you reap? 
If you sow a character, what do you reap? How did the old adage say that jus- 
tice travels? Could all portions of the globe be converted into a wheat field? 
Why not? Is the truth concerning God's love and salvation suited to all ages, 
all nations, and all people? 




CttB 



WHEAT AND CHAFF. 

THE COMING SEPARATION. 

Suggestion: — If the children can secure a few handfuls of some kind of 
grain and chaff, the idea of separation can be beautifully illustrated by pouring 
the grain and chaff from one hand to the other, and at the same time gently 
blowing the chaff, separating it from the grain. By turning it in this manner 
once or twice and blowing gently, the chaff may be entirely separated from the 
grain. If a larger quantity were used, it could be poured from one basket or pan 
to another while blowing the chaff from the grain with a palm leaf or some 
other fan. This would illustrate how the grain and chaff were separated at that 
period of the world in which Christ lived. 



M 



Y DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I want to read you a 
very beautiful little psalm, or hymn, or poem, written by 
David. It was originally written in metre or verse, but 
poetry when translated becomes prose. This first Psalm 
of David reads as follows: — 

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the 
ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat 
of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in 
His law doth he meditate day and night; and he shall be like a 
tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in 
his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth 
shall prosper. 

"The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the 
wind driveth away; therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the 
judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the 
198 



WHEAT AND CHAFF. 



99 



Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly 
shall perish." 

We find in this Psalm how the righteous are set forth, and 
how the ungodly are compared to chaff. John the Baptist said of 
Jesus, "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge 
His floor and gather 
His wheat into the 
garner; but He will 
burn up the chaff 
with unquenchable 
fire." 

Now, when 
you have been in the 
country, you have 
observed the wheat 
growing in the field. 
If you had been 
careful to examine it, 
you would have 
found that while the 
wheat is growing the 
grain is enclosed in a 
thin covering called 
chaff, just the same 
as Indian corn or 
sweet corn is en- 
closed by the husks 
which grow about it. So it is with us; while we are in this world, 
there are many things which are essential to our growth and well- 
being. They minister to our physical needs and supply our temporal 
wants. Although we cannot wholly dispense with these things 




Threshing Grain with Flails. 



200 WHEAT AND CHAFF. 

while we are in this world, yet they are not the sole objects of our 
living. The wheat does not exist for the chaff, or the husk in 
which it is enclosed, but the husks or chaff exist for the wheat. 

After a time, when the harvest comes, the farmer enters the 
field and cuts down the wheat, and it is then taken to the barn or 
threshing floor. Years ago, when I was a boy, farmers used to 
spend a large portion of the winter in threshing grain. They would 
spread it out upon the floor of the barn and beat it with a heavy 
stick, which was tied so as to swing easily at the end of a long 
handle. This was called a flail. Machines for threshing grain 
were not then common, as they are to-day. When the farmer 
threshes his grain, he does not do it to destroy the wheat, but simply 
to separate it from the chaff. 

The Bible tells us that we must enter into the kingdom of God 
through much "tribulation." And do you know that the word 
"tribulation" comes from a Latin word, tribulum, which means a 
flail? So the teaching of this passage of Scripture is, that God 
places you and me under the flail, and smites again and again, in 
order that the noblest, best and most Christ-like in us may be sep- 
arated by trials and tribulations from that which is worthless; and 
which needs to be cast off in order that just as the farmer gathers 
the wheat into his garner or granary here on earth, so God may 
gather us eventually into His garner above. 

Boys and girls oftentimes have tribulations in this world, just 
the same as older people do. Disappointments come to them, and 
because of ambitions which are not lawful or right, purposes which 
are not in harmony with God's word and with God's will ; because 
of needed discipline, or for some good reason God is tribulating 
them by sorrows, disappointments and trials, and making them bet- 
ter by means of the experiences through which they are called 
upon to pass. 



WHEAT AND CHAFF. 



201 



If you have been with the farmer in his barn after he is through 
with the threshing, you have seen him take the fanning-mill, and 
perhaps you have turned the crank for him, while he has slowly 
shoveled the grain into the mill and the chaff was being blown 
away by the wind set 
in motion by the rev- 
olution of the large 
fanning wheel. In 
the olden times they 
did not have fan- 
ning-mills, but when 
the farmer desired to 
separate the chaff 
from the wheat, he 
did it with a fan. 
He poured the grain 
from one basket or 
box, or some other 
receptacle, into an- 
other while the wind 
was blowing, or else 
used a fan to create 
a draught of wind to 
blow the chaff, and 
thus separate it from 

the wheat It is Winnowing or Separating Wheat and Chaff. 

this ancient custom to which John the Baptist refers. He says, con- 
cerning Christ, "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly 
purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He 
will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matthew iii: 
12.) 




202 WHEAT AND CHAFF. 

So God designs to separate from your character, and from 
mine, that which is worldly and temporal, and worthless so far as 
eternity is concerned. Take money as an illustration. Now money 
is essential, and it is well that we should be willing to work hard 
for it, and that we should be economical in its use, and seek to save 
our money so that we may use it for good purposes, and that it may 
be helpful to us in old age. Money serves a very excellent pur- 
pose while we are upon earth, but God does not mean that we 
should make it the chief aim of our life. Therefore, to divert our 
minds from money in one way or another, financial reverses and 
failures sometimes come, and thus God seeks to separate the man 
from the money. We all came into this world empty-handed, and 
we must go out of it empty-handed. Even though we were worth 
many millions of dollars we could take no money with us. You 
might place it in the coffin and bury it with a dead body, but it 
would not and could not go into eternity with the man's undying 
spirit. 

Now, after the farmer has separated the chaff from the wheat, 
he gathers the wheat into his garner, or into his granary; and so, 
after God has separated from our nature and character all that is of 
no use, which is simply earthy, He will gather our souls into 
heaven, His garner above. 

While we live upon the earth we should use the things of this 
world but not abuse them; remembering that finally we must go 
and leave everything behind us, and that we can take nothing with 
us into eternity except the characters which we formed here. 
Wealth and reputation, and all worldly things will have to be left 
behind us; but character, that which you and I really are, shall 
never pass away, but shall enter into an eternal state of being on 
high. All these earthly things are the mere chaff, while character 
is our real selves. 



WHEAT AND CHAFF. 



203 



Questions. — Who wrote the book of the Bible called the Psalms ? Can you 
tell what the first Psalm is about? What is the covering called which is about 
the grain while it is growing? How are the chaff and grain separated from the 
straw or stalk ? After being threshed, how is the chaff separated from the grain ? 
Are there many necessary things in life which, after all, do not constitute our 
character? What are tribulations like? Does God separate the essential from 
the non-essentials in our life? Is character injured or helped by tribulations? 
Where does the farmer put the grain after it has been separated from the chaff ? 
What is spoken of in the Bible as God's garner? 




The Children of Israel Camping in the Wilderness. 



13 



THE HEART. 

THE MOST WONDERFUL PUMP IN THE WORLD. 

Suggestion: — The objects used are a tumbler of water colored red, a small 
glass syringe such as can be purchased at any drug store for five or ten cents, 
also a six-ounce bottle of water colored red. This red coloring can be easily 
done with red ink. If that is not available, a drop or two of black ink will 
answer. 



M 



Y DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: In the 139th Psalm, 
14th verse, David says, "I will praise thee, for I am fear- 
fully and wonderfully made." Now I want to talk to 
you to-day about our wonderful bodies, in the creation of 
which God has so marvelously displayed His infinite wisdom. 

I suppose you have been either near or inside a factory. You 
have heard the noise of the shafts and the pulleys and machinery. 
You have seen the carding machines, and listened to the noise of 
the great spinning jacks which twisted the cotton and the wool into 
yarn or thread, and heard the deafening sound of a great many 
looms as the shuttles flew backward and forward, while the many, 
threads were being woven into cloth. A factory is quite wonder- 
ful, but do you know that in your bodies are found the elements of 
almost all the kinds of machinery that are used in the world ? God 
has so created us that we do not hear the noise of the machinery 
of our bodies, but if you will place your fingers gently in your ears 
you will hear a peculiar roaring sound. That sound which you 
hear is the noise of the machinery of your body, which is in con- 
stant motion. 
204 



THE HEART. 



205 



Now, the heart, which pumps the blood into all portions of 
the body, makes the greater portion of this noise. Do you know 
where your heart is located? I supposed that most of you would 
point to your left side, because you have so frequently heard it 
spoken of as being located there. You have seen public speakers 
and others, when referring to their heart, place their hands upon 
their left side. But if you will bend your head forward so as to 
press your chin against your breast, as far down as possible, the 
heart will be under and a few inches 
below your chin. It is in the center 
of the body, and the lower portion of 
it comes near to the ribs on the left 
side, and when it beats we can feel it 
throb by placing our hand upon our 
left side; but the heart is more 
nearly in the center of the body, and 
not wholly at the side. If you were 
to close your hand as the boys 
do when they say they make a fist, 
the size of your closed hand 
will be somewhat smaller than the 
heart. 

In this tumbler I have some 
water which I have colored with red 
ink, so as to represent blood. Here is a small glass syringe, such as 
can be bought for a few cents in any drug store. Now, when I 
draw this little handle up, you will see how the syringe is filled 
with this red water, and when I press it down how the water is 
forced out of the syringe back into the glass. This very clearly 
illustrates the principle upon which all pumps and steam engines 
which pump water are made. Even the large fire engine, which 




Water and Syringe. 



206 THE HEART. 

throws water such a great distance, is made largely upon this prin- 
ciple. 

You may possibly have been in the engine room, where the 
huge pumps force the water into the reservoirs which supply the 
city with water for drinking and other purposes. From the pumps 
and the reservoirs there are great pipes which lead the water under 
the streets to many thousands of houses which compose the city. 
After the water has been used it is turned into the sewers, runs 
down into the river and back to the sea, where it is evaporated, rises 
again in the clouds, and by the wind is carried hundreds of miles 
over the country. Then it descends again in the form of snow and 
rain, soaks down through the earth and finds its way again into the 
springs and great veins of water under the earth, from which it is 
carried back once more to the city. Thus it is made pure again 
and again, to be used over and over by the people whom God has 
created and whom He supplies with water in this way. 

Now, in somewhat the same way, the heart, which is both an 
engine and a pump, forces the blood out through the pipes or tubes 
of our bodies called the arteries, distributing it to every portion of 
the body, furnishing the materials for building and renewing the 
muscles and the bones and every portion of our system. Then 
gathering up that which is worn out and no longer of service, the 
impure blood returns through the veins back to the right side of the 
heart, where it. is pumped into the lungs and purified by being 
brought into contact with the air we breathe. The blood is then 
returned to the left side of the heart, pumped again into the arteries 
and distributed through all parts of the body, and so it goes on cir- 
culating. Thus the blood is pumped by the heart into the arteries 
and is distributed to all portions of the body, and returned again to 
the heart, from fourteen to twenty times each hour of our life. 

In this bottle, which holds six ounces, I have placed some of 



THE HEART, 



207 



this colored water, which represents about the quantity which is 
pumped out of the heart of an adult each time the pulse beats. As 
I have already intimated to you, the heart is double, and at each 
throb about one-half the quantity in this bottle is pumped out by 
the right side, and the other half by the left side of the heart. Now, 
if the heart were to pump different blood with each pulsation, 




A Wagon Load of Barrels. 

instead of pumping the same blood over and over again, in twenty- 
four hours the heart of a man of ordinary size would pump 1 50 bar- 
rels of blood. 

The Bible says that the days of our years are three-score years 
and ten, or, in other words, that the allotted period of an ordinary 
life is 70 years. Now, in 70 years the heart would pump 164,- 



208 THE HEART. 

389,786 gallons; or, to give it to you in barrels, it would make 
4,566,382 barrels. If you were to place six barrels on a wagon, 
and this would make a good load for two horses, you would have 
761 ,063 loads of these barrels. If you were to place these teams, 
with the wagons containing six barrels apiece, with 36 gallons 
each, at a distance of 25 feet apart, it would make a string of teams 
stretching away 1 ,778 miles, or as far as from New York City to 
Des Moines, in the state of Iowa, or from New York City down 
to the Gulf of Mexico. 

I think you will now be able to understand what a wonderful 
little steam engine and pump each of us has within our own breast. 
And it may surprise you when I tell you that Dr. Buck says that the 
heart at each throb beats with a power equal to 100,000 pounds. 

An ordinary engine or pump would soon wear out, but this 
little engine of the heart goes on beating day and night from the 
time we are born until we are 70 years of age, if we live to be that 
old, and even while we rest in sleep, the heart never stops for a 
moment. Is it any wonder that David said that "We are fearfully 
and wonderfully made"? 

I might tell you many other wonderful things about the heart, 
but this will have to suffice. 

If the natural heart in these bodies of ours is so wonderful, 
how much more wonderful still is that heart which is the seat of the 
moral life and character? As the natural heart is hidden away in 
these bodies of ours, so the spirit or the soul is spoken of in the 
Bible as the heart, because it is hidden away in the life which we 
have in these bodies of ours; and it is this moral character and spir- 
itual life to which the Bible refers when it says, "Keep thine heart 
with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." 

Questions. — How did David say we are made? Does the machinery in a 
great factory make much noise? Are our bodies like a factory in this respect? 



THE HEART. 



209 



How can we hear the noise inside of our body? Where is the heart located? 
What does the heart do? Can you tell how water is supplied for a great city? 
Is the blood carried to all portions of our body in a similar way? How much 
blood is pumped by the heart in twenty- four hours? What does the Bible say is 
the allotted years of a person's life? How long a string of teams would it 
require to carry all the blood which the heart ordinarily pumps in seventy years ? 
Does the heart keep on pumping while we sleep? What is still more wonderful 
than the physical heart? Can we see either the physical heart or the spiritual 
heart? Does the fact that you cannot see them prove that you do not have 
them? Are both necessary to your complete being and existence? 




THE EYE. 



THE MOST VALUABLE AND MOST WONDERFUL TELESCOPE. 

Suggestion: — The objects used are a field-glass or opera-glass, spy-glass 
and sun-glass. 

MY DEAR LITTLE MILLIONAIRES: You know 
that when people are very wealthy, have hundreds of 
thousands of dollars, they are spoken of as millionaires. 
Oftentimes these rich people do not have any more actual 
money than poorer people, but they have property which is sup- 




Field-glass, Spy-glass and Sun-glass. 

posed to be worth a great deal of money. Now, I want to show you 
to-day that each one of you possesses that which is worth millions 
of dollars. 
210 



THE EYE. 211 

I want to talk to you about your eyes, and I hope that you 
will be able to understand that they are worth hundreds and thou- 
sands, yes millions of dollars to each of you. In order that I may 
better illustrate a few of the many wonderful things about the 
human eye, I have brought this field-glass, and here is a small spy- 
glass, and also a magnifying lens, or sun-glass, as boys sometimes 
call them. Inside of this spy-glass and these field-glasses are lenses 
or magnifying glasses, similar to this sun-glass. They are, how- 
ever, more perfect, and are so adjusted or related to each other, 
that when I place this smaller lens of the spy-glass to my eye I 
also look through the larger lens which is at the further end of 
the instrument. When properly adjusted, it enables me to see 
objects which are at a great distance, and to so magnify them as to 
cause them to seem much nearer to me than they really are. 

Now, if you take this spy-glass and look at the stars, it will not 
make them appear any larger than they appear to the eye without 
the spy-glass. It will assist the eye when I look at the moon or the 
planets, but not at the stars which are so much further removed 
from the earth than the moon and the planets. Astronomers have 
desired something larger and more satisfactory, and so have made 
the great telescopes, which are simply large spy-glasses. The tele- 
scope and the spy-glass, and the field-glasses, are all imitations of 
the human eye; the same as many of our greatest inventions are only 
copies of that which God has already created, and which we have 
but feebly imitated. The eye is a more wonderful instrument than 
even the largest telescopes which have ever been made. 

If you desired to look through a telescope at one of the stars 
or a planet, or the moon, you would have considerable difficulty in 
directing it so as to be able to see the desired object. Even with 
this small spy-glass it is very difficult so to direct it as to find a par- 
ticular star in the heavens at night. It is not easy, even to find a 



212 



THE EYE. 



distant object upon the earth. But with these wonderful eyes, with 
which God has endowed us, you and I can look almost instantly 
from one star to any other star, and find instantly upon the earth 
any object which is distinctly pointed out to us. It takes a very 
experienced person successfully to operate a telescope, but the 
smallest child can direct and control and use his own eyes success- 
fully. 

The large telescopes have to be turned and adjusted by 

machinery, and when it is 
desired to direct them from 
one star to another star on 
the opposite side of the 
heavens, they even have to 
turn around the entire roof 
or dome of the observatory. 
But you and I do not need 
any ponderous machinery to 
adjust our eyes, or to turn 
them about in order to look 
in a different direction. We 
can easily turn our heads 
by bending our necks, or, if 
necessary, we can turn our 
entire body around and 
look in an opposite direc- 
Small Telescope. t j on . J n looking from one 

object to another, our eyes change their direction so quickly that we 
are not conscious of any effort upon our own part. 

If you were to look through a large telescope, or even one of 
these smaller spy-glasses, you would immediately discover that 
when you desire to look at objects at different distances, or in dif- 




THE EYE. 213 

ferent degrees of light and shade, you would have to constantly 
adjust the telescope or spy-glass to these different conditions. If 
you would look at objects which are near, and then turn the spy- 
glass to look at those which are distant, you would not be able to 
see distinctly until you had adjusted the lenses to suit the distance. 
With our eyes the same adjustment has to be made, and yet it is 
done so quickly and without any conscious effort upon our part, that 
it seems as if it were not done at all. When we look at an object 
which is only a few inches from our face, and then turn and look 
at a distant object, instantly our eyes are adjusted to the difference 
of distance and varying degrees of light and shade. 

But what makes this all still more wonderful is the fact that 
we have two telescopes, two eyes instead of one. Both of these lit- 
tle eye-telescopes instantly adjust themselves, and both adjust them- 
selves to precisely the same necessity. If they adjusted themselves 
differently we would see two objects instead of one; the same as 
a drunken man who has lost the use of his muscles and faculties, 
whose eyes do not work in harmony, and therefore, instead of see- 
ing only one object, he sees two objects and sees them in a con- 
fused way. 

Did you ever think how wonderful it is that when you close 
your right eye, and look at something with your left eye, that you 
can see the object distinctly? Now, if you close the left eye, and 
look at the object with the right eye, you again see the same object 
distinctly. When you open both eyes and look at the same object, 
instead of seeing the object twice, or seeing two objects, you see 
only one object. That is because the eyes work in such perfect 
harmony, and that is what the Scripture means when it says that 
you and I should "see eye to eye" in everything that is good. 

Now there is another thing to which I desire to call your at- 
tention, and that is the size of the eye. If you owned one of these 



214 THE EYE. 

very large telescopes which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, 
you would be regarded as a very wealthy person, but you could not 
carry that telescope with you from one place to another. It would 
be of no service to you in looking upon the beautiful scenes which 
surround you from day to day. If you wanted to use the telescope 
you would have to stay where the telescope was, instead of taking 
the telescope with you where you desired to go. But God has 
made these little eye-telescopes so perfect, and yet so compact and 
small, that wherever we go, on land or sea, we can take them with 
us, and they can be in constant use and give us the most perfect 
delight and satisfaction. 

I am sure there is not a single boy or girl who would trade off 
one of these perfect little telescopes — yes, I will call it a telescope 
and an observatory also — for God has beautifully encased our 
eyes, and shielded and housed them more beautifully and satisfac- 
torily than the most perfect observatory which was ever built for 
any man-made telescope. We would not trade away one of our 
eyes for one of the finest telescopes in the world, and we would not 
be willing to give both of our eyes for all the telescopes which have 
ever been made. 

But one of these large telescopes and observatories would cost 
a great deal — even hundreds of thousands of dollars; yet God has 
given you and me these telescopes, our wonderful eyes. But 
because God has given them to us they are none the less valuable 
on that account, and I think therefore that I was correct when I 
addressed you to-day as little millionaires. 

Now, God has given you, not simply one eye, but He has 
given you two eyes, two wonderful telescopes and observatories. 
He has given you two, so that if by any accident one should be 
destroyed, you would still have the other to depend upon. God 
has given you two eyes, and two hands, and two feet; but He has 



THE EYE. 215 

given you only one soul, and if by sin you lose that one soul, then 
you have lost everything, for the Scripture says, "What shall a man 
give in exchange for his soul?" 

In Palestine, the country in which Jesus lived when He was 
upon the earth, the sun shines with wonderful brightness and clear- 
ness; the land also is very light in color, and consequently the eyes 
are oppressed by the glare, just the same as those of you who have 
ever been at the seashore have experienced the glare while walking 
along the beach; or, to some extent, like the bright sunlight shining 
upon the snow in winter. This light color of the soil and brightness 
of the sun in Palestine are the cause of blindness to many of the 
inhabitants. When Jesus was upon the earth, one of His greatest 
acts of mercy to suffering humanity was to open and heal the eyes 
of those who were either born blind, or who had become blind 
afterward. 

Now, in this country of ours, and in all countries of the earth, 
there are hundreds and thousands and millions of people who are 
spiritually blind. Jesus Christ is to-day passing by, just the same 
as when the blind man sat by the roadside near Jericho, when Jesus 
was then passing by. As that blind man called upon Jesus and 
said, "Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me," so you and I 
should call upon God and upon His Son, Jesus Christ, that He 
would have mercy upon us and open our spiritual eyes. We should 
make the language of the Scriptures the petition of our hearts, 
"Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of 
Thy law." I pray that God may give each of you to see and to 
understand spiritual things. 

Questions. — Instead of money, in what does the wealth of millionaires 
often consist? Is the human eye worth more than money? Would you take a 
million of dollars for your two eyes? Are your eyes worth more than telescopes ? 
Which is the more perfect, a telescope or the human eye? Are telescopes 
adjusted like the eye? Which can be adjusted more quickly? Where are tele- 



216 



THE EYE. 



scopes kept? Are your eyes kept in a little observatory? Why has God given 
us two eyes instead of one ? How many souls has He given us ? If the soul is 
lost, what is the result ? What causes so much blindness in the country in which 
Jesus lived ? Did Jesus open the eyes of the blind and restore the sight of people 
in Palestine ? Are many people spiritually blind ? Does Jesus wish to give them 
spiritual sight or vision ? 




THE EYE 



THE SMALLEST CAMERA, THE MOST VALUABLE PICTURES. 

Suggestion: — The object used is a small camera of any kind. 

1AM going to address you again to-day as LITTLE MILLION- 
AIRES. Last week I showed you how your eyes were more 
valuable than the most costly telescopes, and to-day I want 
to show you how, in another way, you are little millionaires. 
Very wealthy people sometimes travel in different countries, 
and gather very rare and beautiful paintings and pictures, often- 
times paying a thousand 
dollars, ten thousand dol- 
lars, and sometimes very 
much more for a single 
painting. Then they bring 
these paintings all together 
in their own homes and 
hang them on the walls, 
and as the result of the 
expenditure of many thou- 
sands, and sometimes of 
hundreds of thousands of 
dollars, they have a very 
beautiful and rare collection. But God has made you and me the 
possessors of a vast number of pictures, more beautiful, of greater 
variety, and infinitely more valuable, than all the paintings that were 
ever hung upon the walls of any art gallery in the world. 

217 




Camera. 



218 



THE EYE, 



To illustrate my thought, I have to-day brought a camera. 
Sometimes such a camera as this is called a Kodak or Snap-shot. 
As the finest telescopes have been modeled after the human eye, so 
the camera is only a very imperfect imitation of the human eye. As 
the spy-glass and telescope have lenses, so does this camera have a 
lens, which you see here in the front. Just back of this lens is the 
dark chamber in the camera, and back of it is a ground glass, as you 
will see here. Now whatever is directly in front of the camera is 
shown on the ground glass, as you will observe, but in an inverted 
or up-side-down position. So the eye has its various parts, and as 




The Human Eye. 

the rays of light pass through this lens and reflect the picture on this 
ground glass, so rays of light coming from any object pass first 
through the small opening of the eye, to the retina, where the picture 
is inverted just the same as upon the ground glass. When this pic- 
ture is thrown upon the rear wall of the eye, which is called thq 
retina, the seeing nerve, which is called the optic nerve and is con- 
nected with the eye, conveys the impression to the brain, and the 
result is what we call seeing. 

What I have told you is correct, and can easily be proven by a 



THE EYE. 219 

simple experiment with the eye of some animal. If you take the 
eye of a dead rabbit, and cleanse the back portion of it from the fat 
and muscles and then hold a candle in front of it, you can see the 
image of the candle formed upon the retina. If you take the eye 
of an ox and carefully pare off from the back portion, so as to leave 
it very thin, and place the eye in front of (or against) a small hole 
made in a box; then cover your head to shut out the light you will 
see through the box the picture of any object which is directly in 
front of this eye of the ox. In both instances they will be in the 
inverted form. This experiment would fully demonstrate to you 
that the camera is only an imitation, and a very poor one too, of the 
human eye. 

Now when pictures are taken by means of the camera, the 
negative can not be exposed to the light, but must be taken into a 
dark room, and be carefully developed by the use of necessary 
chemicals or liquids. Then specially prepared paper must be used 
for printing the photographs. This paper must also be kept in the 
dark until it has been thoroughly washed and cleansed. But, with 
the pictures which are taken upon the retina of the eye, no such 
delay and labor is necessary before you can look at them. The 
moment the eye is turned in any direction, instantly the picture is 
photographed upon the retina of the eye, and then stamped indeli- 
bly upon the memory and becomes a part of ourselves. 

There is no cost for chemicals, no delay in adjusting the in- 
strument with which the picture is taken, no necessity for carrying 
around a large camera. 

The camera has many disadvantages which are not found in 
the human eye. The camera must be adjusted to objects near or far, 
and different cameras have to be used for pictures of different sizes 
and for different classes of pictures. These cameras are costly to 
purchase, a great deal of time is consumed in securing a few pic- 

14 



220 THE EYE. 

tures, they are always attended with expense; and when pictures 
are to be removed from one place to another, the owner is subjected 
to much trouble and annoyance. Then, the camera also does not 
give us the colors of the different objects which are before it. That 
is the reason why, in the beginning, I spoke of these millionaires 
purchasing such costly paintings, because in the paintings different 
colors are represented. 

Now, in the hundreds of pictures which are constantly being 
taken by your eyes, there are no delays, no expenses, no inconveni- 
ence when the pictures have once been taken. Different shades 
and colors are all clearly represented. And even though you were 
to stand on a high mountain, where you could look off over one or 
two hundred square miles of beautiful landscape, all that beautiful 
scenery would be pictured on the retina of your eye; and the pic- 
ture, complete and perfect, would not be larger than one-half inch 
square. What would real wealthy people be willing to give for a 
perfect picture only one-half inch square, in which the artist had 
clearly defined every field and tree, the rivers, houses, roads, rail- 
ways and all the beautiful landscape contained in a vast area of 
many square miles? 

Our eyes are wonderful cameras, which God has given us so 
that we can be constantly taking these beautiful pictures as we pass 
through life, and look at them not only for the instant, but that we 
may treasure the pictures up in our memories and make them the 
rich treasures and joyous heritage of coming years. 

The older we grow, the more we appreciate these memory 
pictures of the past — memories of our childhood days, beautiful 
landscapes, foreign travel, lovely sunsets, the glorious sunrise, green 
fields and orchards of golden fruit. As you grow old, I suppose 
the richest treasures in your picture gallery of the past will be the 
memories of your childhood home, of mother and father, brother 



THE EYE. 221 

and sister. Possibly when you have grown old, you will remem- 
ber how one day your heart was almost broken, when for the first 
time you were leaving home; how mother's eyes filled with tears 
when she kissed you good-bye, and, following you to the gate, how 
she stood and waved her handkerchief, while home faded from 
your view as you rounded the turn in the road and realized for the 
first time that you were launching out into real life for long years of 
struggle. 

Just as the hearts of the parents go out in great tenderness 
toward their son, who is leaving the Christian influences of his home 
to begin service in a distant city, surrounded by evil influences, and 
oftentimes by wicked people; so the heart of our Heavenly Father 
goes out in great tenderness towards you and me, while we are sep- 
arated from the great eternal mansion of the skies. God's heart 
yearns over us in great tenderness, and while we live in the midst 
of the evil of this world we are constantly to remember that God 
has made us millionaires; not only in the possession of the eyes, and 
other faculties with which He has endowed us for use here upon 
the earth, but we are to remember that we are children of the King 
of Heaven, and that we are heirs of everlasting life and of ever- 
lasting glory. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus 
Christ, to an inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled and that 
"fadeth not away." We are not simply millionaires, but we are 
heirs of everlasting glory. 

Questions. — What instrument for taking pictures is like the human eye? 
Which can take pictures quicker, the eye or the camera? What is lacking in 
pictures taken by the camera? Do our eyes show the colors of the objects? 
Of what is the camera an imitation? Is it expensive to take many pictures with 
the camera? Why do people pay large sums for oil paintings? Was there ever 
a picture painted by an artist or photographed with a camera so beautiful as the 
small pictures taken by the eye? For size, color, variety and convenience, 
which are the finest pictures in the world? Which pictures are most treasured 
in old age? 



FROGS. 

THE PLAGUES IN EGYPT. 

Suggestion: — Objects: Some paper frogs, which can be purchased at any- 
Japanese store for about five cents each. They are often found also in toy stores. 

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I am sure you will all 
be able to tell me what this object is which I hold in 
my hand (voices: "Frogs, bullfrogs"). Well, it looks 
exactly like a bullfrog, and was made to imitate a bull- 
frog. The bullfrogs I have here are made of paper, and were made 




in Japan. I bought them that I might show them to you and preach 

you an object sermon on the subject of the "Ten Plagues in Egypt." 

You all remember how Joseph was sold by his brethren into 

222 



FROGS. 223 

bondage in Egypt, how he was cast into prison and afterward taken 
out and made prime minister over all that land; how during the 
seven years of plenty he laid up corn for the seven years of famine 
which followed, and afterward his father and his brethren — in all 
the seventy persons who constituted Jacob's family — came down 
into Egypt to be fed. After two hundred and fifty years this fam- 
ily had increased until it numbered nearly two millions of people. 
Pharaoh had made slaves of them, and compelled them to work 
in the brickyards of Egypt. The task-masters were very cruel. 
They beat them with whips, and demanded excessive labor from 
them. These people were the chosen people of God, and their 
voice was lifted to God their Father for deliverance from all the 
wrongs which they suffered. God heard their prayer, and raised 
up Moses to deliver them out of Egyptian bondage. 

When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh to request him to 
let the Children of Israel go from Egypt to the land of Canaan, 
which God had promised to Abraham and to his seed after him, 
Pharaoh would not consent to let them go. He was a proud, 
wicked king, and God sent ten great plagues upon him and his 
country, to humble him and cause him to do as God desired that he 
should do. 

In the first plague the rivers were turned into blood. This 
plague lasted seven days, and at the end of that time Moses 
stretched forth his rod, and all the rivers and ponds and lakes of 
water brought forth great frogs throughout all the land. They 
came, not by hundreds, but by thousands and millions, until the 
frogs covered all that land. They were in the houses of all the 
people. The king's servants were busy sweeping and carrying 
them out of the palace, and yet they stole into the rooms, and at 
night when the king would go to lie down he would find these 
frogs in his bed-chamber and upon his bed. When his bakers went 



224 FROGS. 

to make bread for the king, they would find them in the bread- 
troughs in which they kneaded or mixed the bread, and in the ovens 
where they baked the bread. The frogs were everywhere in the 
palace and in the huts of the common people; upon the streets and 
in the roads; wherever the people walked they stepped upon them, 
and the king's carriage could not be driven through the streets with- 
out crushing thousands of them. The plague was so great that 
Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and entreated them to call 
upon their God that He would remove the frogs; and when God 
heard the prayer of Moses and Aaron He caused the frogs to die. 
The people gathered them up in great heaps and these dead and 
putrefying frogs in the streets and the water of the river caused the 
air to be loaded with a great stench that filled the nostrils of all the 
people. 

After this plague of frogs came the plague of lice, when all 
the dust of the country was turned into lice, and after that the 
plague of the flies; and so on through to the last plague, which was 
the slaying of the first-born, of which I will tell you in another 
sermon. 

I wish you would at your earliest opportunity turn to the sec- 
ond book in the Old Testament, the Book of Exodus, and in the 
early chapters read about these various plagues of Egypt. When 
you read the account of the various plagues, you will see how after 
each affliction Pharaoh's heart seemed to relent. He would con- 
sent for a time that the Children of Israel might be liberated from 
their bondage, and depart from Egypt and start on their journey to 
the land of Canaan. When he was in affliction he would make 
good promises, but as soon as God had removed the plague, and 
the sorrow of his people seemed to be ended for a time he again 
hardened his heart against God, and refused to do what he had 
promised. Again and again the king refused to do that which he 



FROGS. 225 

had agreed, and caused the unhappy Children of Israel to continue 
in their bondage. 

We may think that we are not wicked like Pharaoh was. 
We may not be wicked in the same degree, but we are wicked after 
the same nature and kind; and so God brings upon us various provi- 
dences, some of which are not very pleasant. God is seeking to 
educate us by the trials and sorrows and disappointments and afflic- 
tions which He permits to come upon us, so that we will be more 
obedient, and more faithful, and more Christlike. But I suppose 
you have seen people who were just like Pharaoh. When they 
were sick they would promise to become Christians, and live good 
and right lives, and join the Church and be faithful followers of 
Christ all the rest of their lives. And yet when God would raise 
them up from their beds of sickness they would forget all their 
promises, and generally, as it always was in the case of Pharaoh, 
their hearts became harder and harder. Instead of being better 
after God had raised them up and made them strong and well, or 
removed some trial or affliction, they became worse than before. 

Have you not found something of this also in your own 
experience? When you have desired something which you have 
asked your father or mother to secure for you, you have promised 
that you would run all the errands they asked, or that you would 
go to school and study your lessons very faithfully, or that you 
would go to bed cheerfully at night without complaining, or you 
have made your parents some other promises; and yet, after you 
have received the object you asked for, you have failed to keep your 
promise. 

Or, to go a step further, has it not been so with what you have 
promised God that you would do? You may have entered into 
covenant with Him, made certain promises, and then afterward 
forgot to fulfill those promises. Let us always remember when we 




226 Moses Leading the Children of Israel Through the Red Sea. 



FROGS. 227 

make promises to God, or to our parents, that we are not to be like 
Pharaoh. After God has answered our prayers we should not for- 
get to be obedient to Him and to keep our promises. 

Pharaoh was a great covenant-breaker, but when at last he 
gave the Children of Israel permission to leave Egypt, and then 
broke his promise and followed them with his army that he might 
destroy them, God opened up the waters of the Red Sea and the 
Children of Israel fled from before Pharaoh. When this wicked 
king and covenant-breaker saw them, he pursued after them with 
his horses, his chariots and his army; and when they were all in the 
midst of the sea, God took away His restraining power from the 
water which stood piled up on both sides of the way along which 
the Children of Israel had marched safely, and the water came 
down in great torrents and buried this wicked king and all his 
horses and his chariots and his men. So God destroyed this great 
covenant-breaking king, because after all of the judgments and 
wonderful miracles which He had wrought before Pharaoh, in 
order to teach him that Jehovah was God, Pharaoh's repentances 
were all mere shams. 

This was a great object sermon which God did before the eyes 
of all these thousands of the Children of Israel, and it should teach 
you and me that we are to be honest in all our covenants with God, 
and be obedient to the will of God in all that we do and say. 

Questions. — Upon what king of Egypt did God send the plague of frogs? 
How many plagues were there? What effect did each plague have upon Pha- 
raoh? Was he honest when he repented? What did he do each time after the 
plague was removed? What was the last plague? After the death of the first- 
born, did he allow the Children of Israel to go ? After they started, what did he 
do? How did God enable the Children of Israel to cross the Red Sea? When 
Pharaoh followed into the sea after them, what occurred? Should we always 
keep our covenants, both with God and men? If we do not keep our covenants, 
whom are we like? Will we also be punished? 



BLOOD. 

THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER. 

Suggestion : — The object used is a bottle of red ink to represent blood. 

CHILDREN OF THE COVENANT-KEEPING 
KING: Last Sunday I talked to you about Pharaoh, as 
the great covenant-breaking king. I showed you some 
paper frogs, and told you how after all of God's long-suf- 
fering with Pharaoh, He eventually destroyed him and his army 
in the midst of the Red Sea. 

Now, to-day I have this bottle, which has this deep red col- 
ored fluid in it. This is red ink. But I have brought it not to talk 
to you about ink, but to talk about something else which is of the 
same color; namely, of blood. 

You remember that there were ten plagues in Egypt; the first 
was the turning of the rivers into blood, then the bringing up of the 
frogs from all the rivers and lakes; and then the turning of the dust 
into lice; and then the plague of the flies; ana then of the murrain 
which destroyed the cattle; and of the boils which came upon all 
the people; and of the lightning, and rain, and hail which destroyed 
man and beast. Then the locusts came which ate up everything 
that remained; afterward the three days of continuous darkness; 
and after these nine plagues God had yet in store one great plague 
which He purposed to bring upon Pharaoh and his people. After 
each of these plagues which I have named, Pharaoh promised that 
he would let the Children of Israel go, but instead he hardened 
his heart and refused to keep his promise. At last God was going 

228 




Copyrighted. 1911. by Sylvanus Stall. 

Preparing for the Passing Over of the Angel of Death 



BLOOD. 231 

to bring upon him and his people the greatest plague of all. (Ex. 
xii: 1-28.) 

God told Moses and Aaron to command the Children of 
Israel that on the tenth day of the month, each family should select 
either a lamb or a kid and shut it up until the fourteenth day, and 
in the evening of that day they should kill it. This was to be a 
male lamb, one year old, and without spot or blemish. The blood, 
as it flowed from the neck of the lamb, was to be caught in a dish, 
and with a bunch of hyssop the blood was to be sprinkled upon 
the door-posts or the door frame, both above and around the door, 
so that when the Angel of Death whom God purposed to send 
upon that eventful night, when he should pass throughout all the 
land of Egypt and see the blood upon the door posts and upon the 
lintel over the door he would pass by or "pass-over" these houses of 
the Israelites and would not smite their first-born with death; as 
would be the case in every other home of the Egyptians throughout 
all the land. 

After the Children of Israel had sprinkled the blood upon the 
door-posts, they were to roast the entire lamb, and they were to eat 
it with unleavened bread, which was bread baked without yeast, 
and eat it also with bitter herbs, while at the same time their long, 
loose garments were to be tucked up under their belts which went 
around their waists, or as the people in those days would have said, 
with their loins girded. They were to have their shoes on their 
feet, and a cane or staff in their hand, so as to be all ready to start 
out upon their journey at any moment. 

At midnight, after these Israelites had eaten this "Passover" 
meal, and had also destroyed, by burning, any portions of the lamb 
which might remain, the Angel of Death passed through all the 
land of Egypt and slew the first-born, the oldest in every house, 
where there was no blood sprinkled upon the door-posts. 



232 BLOOD. 

As soon as the angel had passed by, the people rushed out 
into the streets in terror and alarm, for in every home there was 
one or two or more persons lying dead. The Egyptians brought 
out their jewels and gold and valuables, and offered, not only to let 
the Israelites retain the jewels which they had already borrowed, 
but to give them more if they would only depart immediately, so 
that God should bring no further afflictions upon them. Pharaoh 
consented to their going, and immediately the Children of Israel 
started on their long journey to the Promised Land. 

This eventful night was called, and is to this day called, "the 
night of the Passover," and to this day the Jewish people still cele- 
brate the Feast of the Passover. It occurs in the spring of the year, 
and corresponds very closely to our Church festival day, known as 
Good Friday, at which time we commemorate the crucifixion and 
death of Jesus Christ upon Calvary. 

You will see from what I have said, how the lamb which was 
chosen was a figure of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, slain from 
the foundation of the world to take away your sins, and my sins, 
and the sins of all who would believe on Him. As this passover 
lamb was a year old, without spot and without blemish, so Jesus 
Christ was perfect, without blemish, He never committed a sin of 
any kind; He was but thirty years old when He was crucified, and 
consequently was young in years. 

As the blood sprinkled upon the door-posts and the lintels of 
the doors was the sign by which the Angel of the Lord was to 
know the homes of the Israelites, and deliver their first-born from 
death, so the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us from all 
sin and delivers us from eternal death. 

You and I and all mankind must die, but after this death of 
the body there comes either everlasting life or spiritual death. 
Now, when the spirit leaves the body, or is separated from these 



BLOOD. 233 

bodies, we speak of the body as being dead. The death of a person 
is just the same as when wheat is sown into the ground and is said 
to die; the life that formerly was in the seed only springs up into the 
stalk and grows into a new life and into a multiplied f ruitfulness. 

The life of each grain of wheat does not cease to exist, but is 
simply separated from the seed or grain which was sown in the 
ground, and lives in the new plant and new grain which springs up. 
So also when the life or the soul leaves the body, the body is dead, 
because it is separated from the soul. In like manner also, if the 
soul is separated from God, the Bible speaks of the individual as 
being spiritually dead, even while yet living in this world. Now, 
if because of sin any soul that is banished forever from God's pres- 
ence, and is eternally separated from God in the next world, that 
eternal separation of the soul from God is spoken of in the Bible as 
eternal death. 

From this eternal death you and I can only be delivered by the 
blood of the Son of God. Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb. 
Neither is He a dead, but a living Savior. 

"He ever lives above, 

For me to intercede; 
His all-redeeming love, 

His precious blood to plead; 
His blood atoned for all our race, 
And sprinkles now the throne of grace." 

Questions. — What was the tenth plague? How were the homes of the 
Israelites to be marked, so that the angel of death would pass over them? How 
old was the lamb to be that was to be slain ? What was to be done with the body 
of the lamb? When they ate it, how were they to be clothed? (So as to be 
ready to start immediately upon their journey.) What did the angel of death 
do where the door posts were sprinkled with the blood? What was the event 
called? (The Passover.) What people continue to celebrate the Feast of the 
Passover to-day? Of whom was the slain lamb the symbol? What is Christ 
frequently called? From what does the blood of the Lamb of God save us? 



PINE BRANCH. 

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 

Suggestion : — The objects used are a green branch of a tree and a glass of 
clear water. 

DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS; Last Sunday I told you 
about the Feast of the Passover, how it came to be insti- 
tuted, and what it signified. To-day I want to talk to 
you about the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of the 
Passover occurred in the spring, nearly corresponding to our Easter; 
and at such times when the Israelites from every quarter of the land 
came up to Jerusalem, as was the custom at the three annual feasts, 
some provision had to be made for their entertainment. 

At the Feast of the Passover all the Jews living in Jerusalem 
had to throw open their homes, and entertain under the cover of 
their own roofs, all who came to them. They could not decline to 
receive the thousands of worshipers who came up to the Feast, but 
were required to afford them a place of shelter in their homes. 
Therefore it was that before the Feast of the Passover Jesus sent 
two of His disciples, and told them to go into the city, and they 
would find a man bearing a pitcher of water; they should follow 
him and ask him to direct them to a room in his house, where Jesus 
might eat the Passover with His disciples. (Matt, xxvi: 1 7 ; Mark 
xiv: 13.) 

At the Feast of Tabernacles, which occurred in the fall of the 
year, after the harvest and the fruit of the vines and the trees had 
all been gathered in, it was very different. At this Feast, when the 
234 




-CMB<IF3. 



Building Booths at Feast of Tabernacles. 



235 



236 PINE BRANCH. 

Israelites came up to Jerusalem, not only those who came from a 
distance, but even those who lived regularly in the city, were 
required to tent or live in booths made by simply placing some poles 
in the ground, with other poles reaching across the top, so as to form 
a roof or covering. This roof was not shingled, but was formed 
by laying branches of trees upon the sticks which had been laid 
across from one pole to the other. (Neh. viii: 14, 15.) 

You now see why to-day I have chosen this branch of a tree to 
show you in connection with this sermon. I have chosen this to 
impress upon your mind the character of the arbors used at the Feast 
of Tabernacles; the tops or roofs of which were formed or made of 
olive, and willow and pine, myrtle and palm branches. These 
booths or arbors were to remind the Children of Israel of the journey 
of their forefathers through the desert, when for forty long years 
they did not live within the walls or under the roof of any house, but 
dwelt only in booths. 

I am sure that you and I would like to have looked in upon 
Jerusalem at the time when one of these Harvest Home festivals was 
being celebrated. We would like to have seen the booths on the 
tops of the houses and along the side of the hills, outside of the 
walls of the city, and sloping down through the valleys and crowd- 
ing far out into the country upon the Mount of Olives and beyond. 
We would like to have seen the bright faces of the happy throngs 
of people as they moved in procession through the streets, waving 
their palm branches; and to have listened to the music of the trum- 
peters of the Temple, as they sounded their trumpets twice every 
hour throughout the entire day. I am sure we would have been 
delighted to look down upon the festive crowd at night, when, 
instead of waving palm branches as they did during the day, they 
carried bright flaming torches, amid the clashing of cymbals and 
the blast of trumpets. 




15 



'He Bore it Aloft as He Ascended the Stairs.' 



237 



238 PINE BRANCH. 

This Feast lasted for eight days. The first day and the last 
were especially sacred. And now I want to call your attention to 
this second object which I have; namely, this water, and I want to 
tell you how it was related to and used at this Feast of Tabernacles. 
On the morning of each day, while the smoke of the morning sac- 
rifice was ascending in beautiful wreaths in the still air, a priest 
bearing a large golden bowl, and followed by a long procession 
of boys and girls waving palm branches, descended the side of the 
hill to the pool of Siloam, which was in a quiet recess at the foot of 
Mount Moriah, on the summit of which the Temple was built. 
When the priest had filled the golden bowl with water from this 
clear pool, he held it above his head and bore it aloft as he ascended 
the stairs. As the procession entered the Court of the Temple, the 
trumpets sounded, and all the throngs of people gathered within its 
walls took up the words of the prophet and sang, "With joy shall 
ye draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isaiah xii: 3), and 
as the priest came to the base of the altar he poured the water from 
the golden bowl into a silver basin amid shouts and glad- 
ness. Upon the eighth day, "the last day, that great day of the 
feast" (John vii: 37), the joy was greater than upon any of the 
other days. The priests in glad procession moved around the altar 
seven times, singing the Psalms. 

It was at the last Feast of Tabernacles which Jesus attended, 
that He stood in the midst of this glad assembly, and beheld their 
joy as they remembered how God had supplied their fathers with 
water in the wilderness; and how God had given them a land of 
streams, and rivers, and wells of water, and it was then when 
Jesus heard them crying "Hosanna, blessed is He that cometh in 
the name of the Lord," that Jesus stood up in the midst of the 
Temple and of the people and said, "If any man thirst, let him 
come unto me and drink." (John vii: 37.) To those of us who 



PINE BRANCH. 239 

have always lived in the midst of a bountiful supply of fresh, clear, 
crystal water, these words are not as impressive as they were to the 
people to whom they were then spoken. For their land was sur- 
rounded by deserts, and they lived in the midst of nations whose 
people often famished and died, because there was not a sufficient 
supply of water to drink. 

While we live in a country where there is always an abundant 
supply of water to satisfy the thirst of the body, yet spiritually, 
like these people at the Feast of Tabernacles we have the same 
spiritual needs that they had, and if you and I thirst for the water 
of life, if we desire everlasting salvation, if we thirst for the knowl- 
edge of sacred things and desire to do that which is right, Jesus 
invites you and me to come to Him, and says to us: "Ho, every one 
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." (Isa. lv: 1 .) "If any man 
thirst let him come unto me and drink," (John vii: 37,) "Who- 
soever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; 
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life." (John iv: 14.) 

Questions. — At what season of the year was the Feast of Tabernacles 
held? How long did it last? In what did the people live or dwell during the 
Feast? Of what were the booths built? Why did they dwell in booths instead 
of in their houses at this time? Of what was all this to remind them? Which 
was the great day of the Feast? On this last day of the Feast what did the high 
priest bring from the well? By whom was the priest accompanied? Into what 
did he pour the water from the golden bowl ? Of what was this water the sym- 
bol? Does every human being thirst for or desire righteousness? Did Jesus 
invite such to come to Hiim and drink? Should we always go to Him to satisfy 
our spiritual hunger and thirst? 



LEAVES, 



THE LESSONS WHICH THEY TEACH. 

Suggestion: — Objects: Some autumn leaves or green leaves of different 
varieties. 



M 



Y DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: To-day I picked 
up these few beautiful leaves, which during the sum- 
mer were lifted aloft on the trees and cast their grateful 
shadows upon the weary traveler as he journeyed under 
the scorching rays of the sun. But with the coming of autumn 
these leaves have faded, and the first frost of winter has tinged 

them with crimson 
and glory. I am sure 
we cannot look upon 
them without think- 
ing of the words of 
the Prophet Isaiah, in 
the sixty-fourth chap- 
ter and sixth verse, 
where he says: "We 
all do fade as a leaf." 
I desire, how- 
ever, to use these 
Autumn Leaves. leaves to teach you 

not only this lesson, but also several others which they suggest. 

If, during the summer, you go out into a forest and study the 
leaves, one of the first things which you will notice will be that the 
leaves which grow upon one kind of trees differ from the leaves 
240 




LEAVES. 241 

which grow upon every other kind of trees. Indeed, if you pick up 
a leaf from the ground and examine it carefully you will find that 
the leaf is largely a picture of the tree upon which it grew. The 
shape of the leaf will correspond very largely with the shape of 
the tree from which it has fallen. If you study the leaf more care- 
fully you will discover that the veins in the leaf will quite closely 
resemble the shape of the limbs of the tree. You would not be able 
to study the different leaves which you pick up without being 
impressed with the resemblance in many instances between the leaf 
and the tree upon which it grew. 

Now, I think that we may learn a very profitable lesson from 
the leaves in this respect. I think that you will find, when you are 
able to study with a little closeness of observation, that the scholars 
of different Sunday-schools are different from each other, at least in 
some respects. Those who come from the school where good order 
is maintained, where there are consecrated, devoted teachers who 
give themselves carefully to the preparation of the lesson, secure 
the attention of their scholars, impress the truth deeply upon the 
minds, and hearts and consciences — you will find that the scholars 
of this school become attentive and orderly, and well behaved, 
and all the scholars in the school partake of the influences which 
are exerted over them from Sunday to Sunday. The scholars who 
attend a school where the superintendent does not keep good order, 
where the teachers are irregular and disinterested, and where every- 
thing is permitted to go along as by mere chance, these scholars will 
partake of the influence of the school, and will individually 
become like the school. So you see how important it is that each 
and every scholar should be attentive and thoughtful, and give the 
very largest amount of help possible to the superintendent and 
teachers to render the school orderly, and to encourage the teachers 
who desire to devote themselves to the teaching of Bible truth and 



242 LEAVES. 

the impressing of the spiritual lessons, so that those who are under 
their influence may be brought to a saving acquaintance with 
Christ. 

What I have said with reference to the Sunday-school is also 
true with reference to the Church. There is an old saying, that 
"like priest, like people." When a pastor continues for a long 
period of years in the same pulpit, ministering to the same people, 
if he has their sympathy, co-operation and assistance the people will 
become very much like each other in their spiritual character, 
and all will become more and more like the pastor and his teach- 
ings. If he is godly, and consecrated, and upright, his people will 
become increasingly so. And you will find not only that each 
scholar becomes a miniature of the Sunday-school which he 
attends, but each Christian becomes a miniature of the congrega- 
tion of which he is a member. 

But the leaves teach us another lesson. The great trees which 
you see in the forest are the result of the united efforts and labors 
of the leaves. Each leaf is gifted with individual power, and 
together they all drink in the influence of the sunlight and the show- 
ers, and unitedly they build up the great oaks and elms and pop- 
lars, and all the trees of the fields and forest. The coal, which is 
now dug from the mines, was once a great tropical growth of forest 
trees which were afterwards buried by some great convulsion in 
nature, and now when we dig up the coal and burn it in our stoves 
we are simply releasing the buried sunshine which was accumu- 
lated and stored up by the individual leaves of the great forests of 
centuries ago. 

As we look upon the leaves of the trees I think we must be 
impressed with the fact, that each one labors in his own appointed 
place. There is no conflict, there is no crowding of one, thinking 
to exalt himself above the others. There are no little parties of 



LEAVES, 



243 



leaves joining together and trying to crowd themselves to the top of 
the tree, but each and all work faithfully and zealously in the place 
which God has appointed them. 

They are not only faithful workers, but they are unselfish 
workers. No leaf can have the joy which belongs to another, or 
the glory of all the leaves. Each leaf has the reward of doing a 
little, and when its work is done it must drop to the ground and 
perish in the dust. The work which it has done and the tree which 
it has helped to build will be its monument and reward. If each 




The Budding of the New Leaf. 

leaf gives its life faithfully for the building up of the tree, no leaf 
can fall to the ground or be shaken from its place by the autumn 
wind and perish in despair. 

If you will go into the forest at the autumn period of the year, 
or go into the orchard and examine where the leaves are about to 
drop off, you will find that at the base of the stem of each leaf, 
already there appears the budding of the leaf which is to be 
unfolded next spring, and even though the leaf withers and falls to 
the ground, leaving the barren limb alone to battle with the winter 



244 LEAVES. 

storms, yet there is the promise and the evidence that when the gen- 
tle breath of spring shall come and break open the icy sepulchres of 
the winter, these little buds will feel the genial warmth and unfold 
their green beauty in a radiant springtime of beautiful foliage. So 
one generation of men may die and pass away, to have their work 
continued and completed by those who are to come after them. 

But these leaves also teach us of our mortality. For, as Isaiah 
says, "We all do fade as a leaf." We are all very apt to forget 
that we must die. And so each year, when the summer is over 
and the fruit is gathered, the leaves begin to wither, and the early 
frost tinges the forests of the closing year, like the sun oftentimes 
makes the clouds all crimson and glory at the close of the day. 
These things should teach us that as advancing years come, we also 
must fade and die. God spreads out before us this great panorama 
along the valleys and on the hillsides each autumn to teach us that 
as the leaves perish, so we must also fade and droop and die. 

But there is one great encouragement, and that is, that 
although the leaves fall, the tree stands. The leaf perishes, but the 
tree abides, and year after year, sometimes for centuries, it goes on 
increasing in stature and in strength, abiding as the giant of the 
forest. So also, when at last each of us must die, that which we 
have built shall abide, and what we have received from others and 
to which we have added our efforts and our labors, others shall 
receive from us, and they also shall carry on the work in which we 
have been engaged. So each generation receives and carries on the 
work of those who have gone before. As the poet has well said, 

"Like leaves on trees, the race of man is found, 
Now green in youth, now withered on the ground; 
Another race the following age supplies; 
They fall successive, and successive rise ; 
So generations in their course decay 
So perish these when those have passed away." 



LEAVES. 245 

The tree stands a monument of strength and beauty at the 
grave of all the dead leaves which lie buried at its feet. So what 
each boy and girl, each man and woman, shall have accomplished 
of good or evil, will remain after they have perished and passed 
away, to tell of their lives, and God will note the result. He who 
says that not even a sparrow can fall to the ground without His 
notice, and who tells us that the very hairs of our heads are all 
numbered, He will note our deeds, and He will be our reward. 

If I were speaking now to older people I might call attention 
to the fact that the autumn leaves are more beautiful than the 
summer leaves. And so boys and girls, it seems to me, and it has 
always thus seemed to me, that there is something more beautiful in 
manhood and womanhood, during the later years of life, than dur- 
ing the earlier years. Always honor and respect the aged whose 
heads are gray, whose features are venerable and whose characters 
are Christ-like. 



Questions. — Are the leaves alike on all trees? In what ways are the leaves 
like the tree on which they grew? Are Sunday-school scholars much like the 
school that they attend ? Are grown people greatly influenced by the pastor who 
preaches to them, and the people with whom they are associated? Of what are 
great trees the result? How do leaves accomplish this? When a leaf drops 
from> the tree, what has already started? What do fading and dropping leaves 
represent ? Does the tree abide when the leaves fall ? When we die do the great 
influences which we have helped forward remain to bless the world? Who still 
notes our deeds when we pass away? Which are more beautiful, summer or 
autumn leaves? What periods of life are they like? 



THE TURTLE. 

MEN LIKE AND YET UNLIKE THE ANIMALS. 

Suggestion: — While it is not at all necessary to present any special objects, 
it will add to the interest if the parent has a turtle shell or even the shells of 
oysters, clams or abalone, which are somewhat the same in principle, the outside 
cover of the animal constituting both its home and defence, although differing 
from the turtle in other respects. 

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: I want to show you 
to-day how in some respect we are like the animals, and 
how in other respects we are very unlike them. To illus- 
trate what I desire to say I have brought this small turtle 
shell. From the way that some boys treat flies and bugs, and birds, 
cats and dogs and all kinds of animals you would suppose that 
many boys and some girls think that animals have no feeling. Boys 
who have never suffered any bodily pain themselves, oftentimes act 
as though they thought that animals could not suffer pain, but in this 
they are greatly mistaken. Animals can and do suffer pain, the 
same as people suffer pain, and in order to defend them against their 
enemies God has provided these creatures of His hand with some 
means of protecting themselves. The birds can fly away. Some 
animals, like foxes, have holes in the ground where they can hide. 
Others, like the squirrel, hide in the hollow trees. Bees can sting. 
Some cattle have horns for defence, and some others, which are not 
as capable of defending themselves against the stronger animals, 
God has marvellously provided with two stomachs. The cow goes 
out in the field and crops off the grass rapidly and can then go to a 
246 



THE TURTLE. 



247 



place of shelter and lie down, and there, protected from the attack 
of wild beasts, chew what she has gathered. This is known in the 
country as chewing the cud. The same is true with sheep; they 
also bite off the grass and swallow it quickly. It passes into a first 
stomach and then they can lie down in some quiet place and chew 
the cud; or in other words chew that which they have hastily bitten 
off in the fields. 

Now the turtle cannot escape from his enemies because he 
cannot run very rapidly, and so God has covered him with a coat of 
mail and given him a helmet, a hard, bony covering for the head 
and this large bony covering for 
his body, which we can very 
properly call his house. When 
danger approaches, the turtle 
quickly draws his head and his 
feet into this large shell, and is 
quite safe from the attack of his 
enemies. Whatever animal 7h e Turtle, 

might desire to eat the turtle is 

prevented on account of this hard outer shell. On this lower part 
you will notice how the turtle can draw the front portion up more 
closely, and thus the more securely shut himself within his house. 
So you see how God has provided all the animals with a means 
of protection and defense, first, to protect their lives, and secondly, 
to save them from pain and suffering. 

While God has thus successfully protected them against other 
animals, they are not protected against the superior intelligence and 
ingenuity of man. The birds can fly faster than the man can run, 
but man can shoot the bird with an arrow or with a rifle. So with 
all the other animals. Now God has made it right for us to kill ani- 
mals for food, but it is very wrong for us to destroy animals for the 




248 THE TURTLE. 

simple pleasure of taking life, and it is also very wicked to inflict 
pain unnecessarily upon any of the animals. 

I want to tell you about a boy who was once strolling through 
the fields with his sister. They found a nest of rabbits. The 
sister was charmed with the beautiful nest itself and with its living 
occupants, but the boy teased them, mimicking their squeaks and 
their struggles. In vain his sister plead with him not to hurt these 
pretty little creatures, but the wicked boy flung them up into the 
air one by one and shouted when each fell dead upon the stones. 
Ten years after the sister sat weeping again by that boy's side. He 
was in chains, sentenced to be hanged for shooting a farmer who was 
hunting in a neighbor's field. They were waiting for the awful 
procession to knock at the cell door. "Sister," he said, "do you 
remember the nest of rabbits ten years ago; how you begged and 
prayed, and how I ridiculed? I verily believe that from that day 
God forsook me, and left me to follow my own inclinations. If I 
had yielded to your tears then, you and I would not be weeping 
these bitter tears now." 

You see how it is that boys who have no regard for the suffer- 
ing, or the preservation of the life of animals are likely to inflict pain 
and even to take the lives of people. 

But I want to call your attention to another respect in which we 
are like the animals, or perhaps, more correctly, in which the ani- 
mals are like us. The forms of most all animals have some resem- 
blance to each other, and all are somewhat in form like man. If 
you take the bird, his wings correspond to our arms, his legs and 
feet are somewhat like ours, only his toes are longer, and the nails 
are slightly different in form. If you will take the horse you will 
see that his neck is longer than ours, that his front legs correspond to 
our arms, and if you take your fingers and press them together you 
will see how, if you were to study the anatomy of the horse's foot 



THE TURTLE. 249 

carefully, it resembles the bones in our hands, and the bony foot of 
the horse corresponds to the nails on the ends of our fingers, only 
that in the case of the horse the nails are all in one, forming the hoof, 
to which the blacksmith nails the shoe. The horse's hoof, however, 
is not solid as you might think, but only a shell, the same as the nails 
on the ends of our fingers. 

Now if you were to take the turtle that lives in this shell or 
house you would find that he also has four legs, the front legs corres- 
ponding to our arms, and his hind legs corresponding to our legs and 
feet. On the end of each of his feet he has nails, the same as you 
and I have at the extremities of our hands and feet. But I am sure 




Birds. 

you would say that the turtle was very much unlike us, in that he has 
such a hard shell of a house which he carries about with him. But 
if you will feel of your hands you will discover that you have bones 
inside of your hands. So you have bones in your arms and all 
through your body. These bones of your body are covered with 
flesh, so our bones are inside of us. But with this turtle almost all of 
his bones are made into one bone, and that is on the outside of his 
body. 

Our muscles, with which we move our hands and feet and dif- 



250 THE TURTLE. 

ferent portions of our body, are attached to the bones which are 
inside of us. His muscles are attached to the bone which is on the 
outside of him. So you see that we are like him, in that both of us 
have bones, only his are on the outside while ours are on the inside. 

His bone or shell is a covering and a defense. Our bones, on 
the inside of us, are so constructed as to enable us to defend ourselves 
also. God has given the turtle a house, but He has given us the 
knowledge and the skill, so that we can construct our own house. 
We are created with capacity to till the earth and to subdue the 
wild beasts of the forest, and with our superior intelligence to be 
king over all the other creatures which God has created. 

Now, there are several lessons which we may learn from 
what I have said. God has protected all animals against their foes. 
He has not fully protected the animals against us, but He expects 
us to use our intelligence and our better nature, to be thoughtful 
and careful not to inflict pain even upon the worm or insect which 
crawls upon the ground beneath our feet. 

While our bodies are somewhat like the bodies of birds and 
beasts, in our moral nature we are not like the animals, but like 
God. We were made in the moral likeness and image of God. 
We have intelligence and God has made us to know right from 
wrong. The animals have no conscience. Cattle do not recognize 
any wrong when they break out of their owner's pasture and 
break into a neighbor's cornfield. We do not say that cattle have 
sinned, because they know nothing of ownership. They do not 
know what is right and what is wrong, and, therefore, are not 
accountable beings. In our intellectual, moral and spiritual nature 
we are superior to everything else that God has created, We have 
a moral nature. We know what is right and what is wrong, and, 
therefore, we are accountable beings. God has made us free to 
follow our own purpose and, therefore, we are to be held account- 



THE TURTLE. 251 

able. God has created us not for a few days of life upon the earth, 
but He has made us immortal, and if we have faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and accept Him as our Saviour and love and serve 
Him upon the earth, our condition in the next world will be one of 
great blessing and happiness. 

God has given the turtle a house. He has given us intelli- 
gence and all the materials and left us to construct the house in 
which we are to live upon this earth. But in heaven He has built 
our house for us. Jesus said: "In My Father's house are many 
mansions." The German translation has it, "In My Father's house 
are many homes." "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go 
and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you 
unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." 

Death may be a misfortune to a poor turtle, but not to a Chris- 
tian man or woman, or a Christian boy or girl. Death is only the 
blessed Saviour coming to take us unto Himself. 

Questions. — Do animals feel pain? Has God provided for their protection? 
Does the turtle have bones? Are your bones on the outside or the inside of 
your body? Where are the turtle's bones principally? How does the turtle pro- 
tect himself? Tell the story of the bad boy and the little rabbits. Are the forms 
of animals similar to the form of our bodies? To what part of our body do the 
wings of the bird and the front legs of a horse or cow correspond ? Do animals 
have a moral nature and a conscience? Are they accountable to God for their 
conduct? Are we? 



GRASSHOPPER AND ANT. 

NEGLIGENCE AND INDUSTRY. 

THE largest city of the world is across the ocean, in Eng- 
land. In the busiest part of London is a very large build- 
ing, called the Royal Exchange. On the top of the pin- 
nacle, or tower, of this large stone building is a large grass- 
hopper, and the English people have this legend in reference to it: 
It is related that some three hundred and seventy-five years ago, a 
woman, whose purposes we cannot know, might have been seen 
hurrying along a country lane, some distance outside of the city. 
Hastening along she came to a gate leading into a field, and look- 
ing in every direction to be sure that no one was near, she took off 
her shawl and wrapped it carefully around a little baby which 
she had concealed under her arm, and laid it gently by the side of 
a hedge. And then turning back to the lane, she soon disappeared 
in the distance. An hour or two later a little girl and a rollicking, 
frolicking boy, possibly returning from school, were crossing the 
field. It was in the later days of summer, when butterflies and 
grasshoppers abounded. As this light-hearted boy was whistling 
along his way, a large grasshopper bounded across his path, and, 
true to the instincts of childhood, the boy started in pursuit of the 
grasshopper. The chase was only begun when the grasshopper 
crossed the fence and landed in a grain field, which in England is 
called a corn field. Stooping to catch his prize, the boy discovered 
near by what proved to be a bright little baby, fast asleep in its 
mother's shawl. Joyful with the prize which they had found, the 
252 




16 



The Royal Exchange, London. 



253 



254 GRASSHOPPER AND ANT. 

boy took it up in his arms, and hastened to his mother, who, 
although a farmer's wife, with many cares and several children, 
resolved to adopt the little stranger as her own. 

Years passed on, and the infant boy grew to be a man of 
industry and economy, and finally became one of the richest and 
most influential men in the city of London. Queen Elizabeth, 
who was then upon the throne, often consulted him, and in after 
years, as an expression of gratitude to the great city in which he 
had accumulated his wealth, and for the royal favor which had 
been shown him, he built the Bourse, or what is called the Royal 
Exchange, and in recognition of the kind Providence which had 




Grasshopper. 

used the grasshopper to lead the steps of the boy to where the baby 
was lying in the fields, Sir Thomas Gresham, for that was his 
name, placed this large grasshopper in stone, upon the topmost pin- 
nacle of this Royal Exchange. While I cannot vouch for the his- 
torical accuracy of this legend, yet it beautifully illustrates the 
truth that God often uses an humble insect for the accomplishment 
of His great providences. 

Now, I want to tell you something about the grasshopper, and 
also about the ant. 

The grasshopper is very much like that class of boys who 



GRASSHOPPER AND ANT. 255 

want to have a good time, play and frolic from day to day, but 
never go to school or work, but live for the play and pleasure to be 
enjoyed each day as it passes. The grasshopper jumps from place 
to place across the field, eating his food wherever he can find it, 
and then spends his days and weeks in idleness. He never stops 
to think that the summer will soon pass away, the fields will then 
be barren, the cold autumn will come, when the fields will be left 
desolate and covered with snow. So finally when the autumn 
comes, he has no food laid up for the winter, but dies of poverty 
and hunger. This little poem which I read in the schoolbooks, 
when I was a boy, will tell the whole story: 

SONG OF THE GRASSHOPPER. 

I saw a brown old grasshopper, 

And he sat upon a stone, 
While ever and anon he chirped 

In a sad and mournful tone : 
And many an anxious, troubled look 

He cast around the naked plain ; 
Where now was but a stubble field, 

Once waved the golden grain. 
What ails thee, old brown grasshopper? 

His voice was low and faint, 
As in the language of his race 

He made this dire complaint: 
"O ! in the long bright summer time 

I treasured up no store, 
Now the last full sheaf is garnered, 

And the harvest days are o'er." 

What didst thou, brown old grasshopper, 

When the summer days were long ? 
"I danced on the fragrant clover tops, 

With many a merry song ; 
O ! we were a blithesome company, 

And a joyous life we led ; 
But with the flowers and summer hours, 



256 GRASSHOPPER AND ANT. 

My gay companions fled : 
Old age and poverty are come, 

The autumn wind is chill, 
It whistles through my tattered coat, 

And my voice is cracked and shrill. 
In a damp and gloomy cavern 

Beneath this cold, gray stone, 
I must lay me down and perish — 

I must perish all alone. 
Alas ! that in life's golden time 

I treasured up no store, 
For now the sheaves are gathered in, 

And the harvest days are o'er." 

He ceased his melancholy wail, 

And a tear was in his eye, 
As he slowly slid from the cold gray stone, 

And laid him down to die. 
And then I thought, t'were well if all 

In pleasure's idle throng, 
Had seen that old brown grasshopper 

And heard his dying song: 
For life's bright, glowing summer 

Is hasting to its close, 
And winter's night is coming — 

The night of long repose. 
O ! garner then in reaping time, 

A rich, unfailing store, 
Ere the summer hours are past and gone, 

And the harvest days are o'er ! 

The little ant is not so foolish. For thousands of years the 
ant has always been wise and industrious. In the Book of Pro- 
verbs, written over twenty-five hundred years ago, Solomon tells 
us in the thirtieth chapter and twenty-fifth verse: "The ants are a 
people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." 
And in the sixth chapter, sixth, seventh and eighth verses he says, 
"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise; 



GRASSHOPPER AND ANT. 257 

which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in 
the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest." You have 
probably noticed the industry, activity and perseverance of these 
little ants. They attempt great things. Sometimes you will see 
one of these little insects carrying a burden which is several times 
larger than its own body. If they come to a stone, or a log, or 
some obstacle, over which they must carry their burden, if they do 
not succeed the first time, they will try again; and even though 
they should fall, or fail as much as a hundred times, they will per- 
severe until they have accomplished their undertaking. If you 
watch them, you will see how rapidly they move. They are not 
lazy, they do not loiter along the way, but are always in a hurry. 




Ants. 

They work with energy and gather food during the summer, which 
they lay up for their supply during the winter. Whatever the little 
ant can gather, it carries home and lays up in store, not for itself 
alone, but all work together, each laboring for the good and well- 
being of all the others. 

This grasshopper very fittingly represents the feeling and 
thought which come into the mind of every boy when he is at first 
required to work, to go to school and study, when he is being taught 
to be industrious and useful. When the days are pleasant, boys 
do not like to go to school. When a pleasant Sunday morning 
comes in the springtime, they often wish to stay at home, to go out 
to the park, or to roam about the fields, and if most of the boys 



258 GRASSHOPPER AND ANT. 

and girls had their own way about it, in the beginning, they would 
live pretty much like the grasshopper. They would get what pleas- 
ure they could out of the days as they pass, grow up in ignorance 
and idleness, and in manhood and womanhood find themselves in 
poverty and want. I think that pretty much all boys and girls are 
naturally lazy, and that feeling can only be cured by being required 
to work, being compelled to go to school and study, and being kept 
persistently at it from week to week and year to year, until at last 
they learn to love to work. If the parents of the grasshopper had 
not themselves been lazy and grown up in idleness, they would 
have taught the young grasshopper that in the spring and summer 
he was to look forward to the wants and needs of the winter. The 
older ants always teach the young ants to work, and in that they are 
very wise. 

Perhaps you have seen boys and girls who have learned to 
work, who are always very active, who seem always to be busy, 
but after all accomplish nothing of any moment in life. If we want 
to live to some purpose in this world, we must remember that we 
should have a purpose worthy of ourselves, and of the great Father 
in Heaven who has created us. After a few months and years the 
grasshoppers and the ants and all the insects die, but you and I 
shall live on forever and ever. These bodies will be laid away in 
the grave, but our immortal spirits shall still continue to live. The 
stars in heaven which have been shining for thousands and thou- 
sands of years shall eventually grow pale. The sun itself shall 
cease to shine, and all the heavens and the universe about us shall 
be rolled together as a scroll. But these immortal spirits of yours 
and mine shall live on with God throughout all eternity. It is 
important, therefore, that our industry and our thought and our 
labor should not be for those things which perish with the using; 
that we should not simply lay up treasures which we must after a 



GRASSHOPPER AND ANT. 



259 



time go away and leave behind us in this world, but that we 
should lay up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not cor- 
rupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal ; that where 
our treasure is, there our hearts may be also; and that we may 
possess and enjoy our treasure throughout all eternity. 

I hope that every time you see a grasshopper or an ant, you 
will remember the lesson which I have sought to teach you to-day. 

Questions. — What is on the top of the Royal Exchange in London? Who 
built the Exchange? Why did he put the grasshopper there? Tell all you can 
about the little boy and girl going through the field. What kind of boys and 
girls is like the grasshopper? What does the grasshopper do in summer? What 
happens to him when winter comes? Is the ant like the grasshopper, or is he 
industrious? What does the Bible say about the ant? How does he spend the 
the summer ? Does he have food for winter use ? Does each ant work for itself 
alone? Who teach the young ants to work? Do boys and girls all have to be 
taught to work? Do all people who are busy accomplish something worthy of 
their effort? What should we live for? 




cnB 



BALANCES. 



HOW GOD WEIGHS PEOPLE. 



Suggestion: — Objects: A pair of ordinary balances. A very good pair for 
illustration can easily be made from a piece of wood, a few strings and a couple 
of little paper boxes. 

DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: I suppose you have all 
stood on the scales and been weighed. I have here a pair 
of balances. This was doubtless one of the earliest kind 
of instruments with which people weighed different 
things, and it is the kind of scales which are still used when the 




Balances. 



greatest accuracy is desired. These are called a balance, because 
when I hold them by this string you will see that this end of the 
260 



BALANCES. 261 

arm and that end of the arm are equal in length and equal in weight 
and they exactly balance each other. Now when I place anything 
in the pan on this end of the arm, and place a small weight in the 
pan on the opposite arm, and then lift the balance up, you will see 
how I can readily tell how much the piece of metal, or piece of 
wood, or whatever I have placed in the balances, weighs. In the 
drug stores they use this kind of scales to weigh medicines, and they 
can tell accurately the weight of a very small quantity. In the lab- 
oratory, or the place where medicines are made, they have this 
kind of scales that will weigh the smallest particle of dust; even a 
small piece of a hair laid on the scales can be weighed accurately. 
In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel we read about a 
king whose name was Belshazzar, who lived in the great city of 
Babylon, surrounded by a great wall three hundred feet high and 
eighty feet broad, and with a hundred gates of brass, twenty-five 
gates on each side of the city, and a street running from each of the 
gates upon the one side, straight across the city to each of the cor- 
responding gates upon the opposite side, a distance of some twelve 
or fifteen miles; and then other streets crossing these first twenty- 
five streets, running between the gates which were upon the other 
two sides of the city. God had blessed this king of Babylon and 
given him great wealth and great power; but he became proud and 
defied God. One night he made a great feast and invited a thou- 
sand of his lords and the generals of his army, and sent for the 
golden vessels of the Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought 
down from Jerusalem, and Belshazzar drank wine out of these 
sacred vessels of the Temple. And, like men and women when 
they drink liquor, they lost their reason, and they praised the gods 
of gold, and of silver, and brass, and iron, and wood, and of stone, 
and thus dishonored God; and there appeared in the banqueting 
hall the fingers of a man's hand and wrote on the wall so that all 



262 BALANCES. 

might see and read it, and these were the words which were written 
before that wicked king: "Thou art weighed in the balances, and 
art found wanting." (Daniel v: 27.) 

Now you see that God weighs men and women, not for the 
purpose of telling how many pounds their bodies weigh, but He 
weighs their character, He weighs their conduct, He weighs their 
purposes, and He weighs their principles, and so He weighed Bel- 
shazzar, and He said of him and to him, "Thou art weighed in 
the balances, and art found wanting." God weighed Belshazzar 
as though he were placed in this side of the balance, and on the 
other side of the balance were placed all his opportunities, privi- 
leges and his blessings, and all that God had done for him. When 
God thus weighed him against all these things Belshazzar was 
found so light that he did not weigh as much as the privileges and 
blessings which God had given him, and therefore, God said that 
he was weighed in the balances and was found wanting. 

In just this same way God weighs you and me, in order that 
we may see whether or not we weigh enough. Suppose we turn to 
the twentieth chapter of Exodus and there find what God requires 
of us. You will find that God says, "Thou shalt have no other 
gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, 
or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the 
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt 
not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy 
God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the 
children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 
and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep 
my commandments." 

Now suppose I place this requirement in one side of the bal- 
ance, and then ask you to place your obedience to this requirement 
in the other side of the balance. I am sure there are a great many 




"Thou Art Weighed in the Balances, and Art Found Wanting." 263 



264 BALANCES. 

grown men and women who could not be weighed against this 
requirement. If a man loves money, so that he sacrifices his obedi- 
ence to God, or sacrifices his character, or gives too large an amount 
of time to money-making, and money- getting; if his love of money 
is very great, you see how he makes money a sort of a god — that is, 
that he exalts his love of money above his love of God. In the 
same way a person can worship pleasure, and ease, and fame in 
such a way as to exalt these above God. Now any one who has 
done this, cannot be weighed against this requirement of God's law 
without being found wanting. 

If we take the next Gommandment, it reads, "Thou shalt not 
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain ; for the Lord will not 
hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Now anybody 
who has ever sworn cannot be weighed against this Commandment. 
A man who curses and swears is a very wicked man. I hope that 
none of you, boys or girls, will ever profane God's name and dis- 
grace yourself by swearing. 

I want to caution you, also, against the use of by-words. 
Sometimes boys swear without knowing it; they say "By Jiminy." 
Now, the word "Gemini" means "Twins," and refers to two 
heathen gods whose names were "Castor" and "Pollux," and 
when boys use the expression, "By Jiminy," they are swearing by 
those two heathen gods. Jesus said, "Swear not at all." (Matt. 
v: 34.) Then not only those who literally swear, but all those 
who use God's name without reverence and who make light of 
sacred things break this Commandment. So you see that many are 
not able to be weighed against this Commandment. 

Then take the next: "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it 
holy." There are many people who remember the Sabbath Day 
simply to make it the occasion of visiting, letter writing, and to 
enjoy a trip into the country, or in the park. They remember the 



BALANCES. 265 

Sabbath Day, but they do not remember it to keep it holy. So you 
see that you would not be able to be weighed against that require- 
ment. 

Now take the next: "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy 
days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth 
thee." If God were to come into this community and weigh the boys 
and girls against this Commandment, how many do you think 
would be found to whom God would turn and say, as He did to 
Belshazzar: "Thou art weighed and art found wanting"? Any 
boy or girl who speaks of his father as "The old man," and of his 
mother as "The old woman"; any boy or girl who is disobedient; 
any girl who yesterday when mother asked her to dust the furni- 
ture, or any boy who when mother asked him yesterday to run 
upon an errand, grew petulant, and scowled and scolded, perhaps 
went out of the room and slammed the door behind them, all such 
boys and girls would be found wanting. You see how, with one 
after another of these Commandments, if God were to weigh us 
we would be found wanting. 

If we take the other Commandments, "Thou shalt not kill," 
anybody who has hated his brother in his heart; "Thou shalt not 
commit adultery," any one who has harbored lust in his heart; 
"Thou shalt not steal"; "Thou shalt not bear false witness"; "Thou 
shalt not covet"; think of each of these and see how many times in 
your life you have broken them, if not in letter, yet in spirit. 

Now, if you cannot be weighed against these different require- 
ments and you have come short of them in the past, how can you 
expect to stand in the great Day of Judgment, when God shall take 
into account every idle word that we have ever uttered, every 
wicked thought; when we shall be weighed in the just balances of 
an infinite God? When God shall place these requirements upon 
one side of the balance, and you and I shall step in upon the other 



266 



BALANCES. 



side of the balance, there is only one possible way in which we 
could then be heavy enough, and that is if we could have our Elder 
Brother, Jesus Christ, to step into the balance with us, as He is 
willing to do, and God should accept the obedience and holiness of 
His own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ in our stead. Unless 
you and I have Jesus Christ with us when we step into that 
balance, it will be said, "Thou art found wanting." Have you 
accepted Jesus Christ as your friend, and are you trying to serve 
Him? If you have not now made Him your friend, how can you 
hope to have His friendship then? May God help you to have 
Jesus as your friend in life, as well as in death; in this life as well 
as in the life to come, now while being tempted and tried in this 
world, as well as when being weighed in the next. 

Questions. — What was the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast? 
Does God weigh our bodies? What does He weigh? Against what was Bel- 
shazzar weighed? What are we weighed against? Are we weighed against each 
commandment separately? Can a person who has sworn be weighed against the 
third commandment? Is the use of by- words swearing? Are we honoring our 
parents by speaking disrespectfully of them? Can we break a commandment in 
thought as well as in deed? Tell how. Will all these requirements over-balance 
us ? What must we do to make a proper balance ? Is Christ willing to step into 
the scales with us? 




WHITE AND CHARRED STICKS. 

GOOD AND BAD COMPANY. 

Suggestion: — Objects: A few pine sticks, some charred; ink and water. 

ALL boys and girls like to have companions, some one to 
play with, and therefore it is very wise that I should talk 
to you to-day about good and bad company. 

First of all let me read some passages from the 
Bible. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the 
ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat 
of the scornful." (Psalms i: 1.) "Forsake the foolish and live; 
and go in the way of understanding." (Proverbs ix: 6.) But 
here is a passage of Scripture which is exactly suited to my purpose 
to-day: "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but a com- 
panion of fools shall be destroyed." (Proverbs xiii: 20.) 

When you go into a large library to select books you will 
always find that they are classified. Some of the shelves have 
books of history, others have books of poetry, and so on throughout 
the entire library. In this way God has classified different people 
in this text. One class is called wise, and the others are called 
foolish. A companion of wise men shall be wise, but a companion 
of fools shall be destroyed. In the same way there are good boys 
and bad boys, good girls and bad girls; and when you choose your 
companions it is important that you should choose them among the 
good, and not among the bad. 

267 



268 



WHITE AND CHARRED STICKS. 



I think you will better understand the teaching of the text, 
when I show you this one stick that has been burned black, or 
charred, as we say. Now here are several clean sticks which have 
not been burned, which are white and not tarnished. Let this black 
stick represent the boys who smoke, or chew, or swear, or lie, or 
deceive their parents; boys or girls who do not go to Sunday-school, 
who do not obey their parents, and who do not love God. These 
clean sticks will represent good boys and girls. Now suppose the 
good boys and girls choose the bad boys and girls as their com- 
panions and playmates; what do you think would be the result? I 
will mix these sticks together. I am sure that nobody would expect 




White and Charred Sticks. 

that the white sticks would transfer their purity and cleanness to this 
black stick. When I mix them, or rub them together, the black 
sticks get no whiter, but all the white sticks get blacker. 

That is the way it always is with the boys who keep bad 
company. Instead of exerting a good influence, so as to reform and 
purify, and make good boys of the bad boys, the bad boys make 
bad boys of the good boys. At first the good boys are horrified at 
what they hear and see the bad boys say and do. After a while it 
ceases to be unpleasant to them. A little later they may possibly 
laugh at the bad boys, but after a while they will come to like the 



WHITE AND CHARRED STICKS. 



269 



bad boys, and finally they will do as the bad boys do and become 
like them in conduct and in character. 

Perhaps you have seen boys who like to take cork and burn it 
in the candle or fire, and then blacken their faces with it, so as to 
make them look like colored people. Now, it is not the best thing 
for a white boy to try to look like a colored boy, but if he does rub 
this black on his face, he can wash it off with soap and water. But 
when a good boy goes with bad boys and his character becomes 
tarnished and blackened, he cannot cleanse and purify it so easily. 
He not only gets a bad character but a bad reputation as well, both 
of which are very 
difficult to cleanse or 
to get rid of. 

Now, here I 
have a glass of water 
and a bottle of ink. 
If I take and pour a 
half a teaspoonful of 
this water into the 
ink, it makes no par- 
ticular difference in 
its color. But if I 
take only two or three drops of ink and mix them with the water, it 
discolors the entire glass of water at once. One or two good boys in 
the midst of many bad ones are likely to be influenced in a bad 
direction. This is especially true if the good boys have sought the 
bad boys as companions. Even one or two bad boys, placed in 
the midst of several good boys, may exert a very bad influence over 
them. I suppose you have all seen this illustrated in the school 
room. You may have had a set of good boys, or a set of good girls 
in your class, but some day a bad boy came to the school, or a bad 

17 




Glass of Water and Bottle of Ink. 



J 



270 WHITE AND CHARRED STICKS. 

girl joined the class and they were frivolous, laughed and talked 
and were disorderly, disobeyed the teacher, played truant and did 
all kinds of naughtiness when in school, and it had its bad effect 
upon the entire class, and sometimes even upon the entire school. 

The text teaches us that we should avoid such foolish boys 
and foolish girls; boys and girls who do not obey God or revere the 
Bible, who do not listen to their consciences, nor do that which is 
right. Such should be avoided at all times, and in choosing our 
companions, we should always prefer those who will have an 
influence for good upon us socially, intellectually and morally. 

The influence of bad companions will tend to destroy all our 
best interests physically, by leading to every kind of vice and evil; 
destroy us financially, by causing us to be inattentive to our work, 
causing us to prefer idleness and pleasure to labor and usefulness; 
destroy us morally, by making light of the teachings of the Bible, 
the importance of the Sunday-school and of the Church, the 
authority of father and mother and the wisdom of what they teach 
and require of us. 

But in addition to all this, we should remember that those who 
are our companions upon earth, will be our companions in the 
world to come. If we go with the wicked and the profane here, 
we shall dwell with them forever in the world to come. If we 
desire to go to heaven and to be forever with those who are good 
and righteous, pure and holy; if we desire to be happy for ever and 
ever in the world to come, we must choose as our companions here, 
those who are living not for this present fleeting life, but who are 
living for the glory of God and who are trusting sincerely in Jesus 
Christ for everlasting salvation. 

May God help us all to be wise and to walk with the wise, 
and not to be foolish and choose fools as our companions, both for 
time and eternity. 



WHITE AND CHARRED STICKS. 



271 



Questions. — Into what two classes has God divided people? What does 
the Bible tell us will happen to a companion of fools ? — of wise men ? Whom do 
the charred sticks represent? Who are like the white sticks? If the sticks are 
rubbed together, what is the result? What happens to good boys who keep bad 
company? Do the good boys become bad immediately? What do bad com- 
panions do to one's character? Can a boy wash "burnt cork" from his face? 
Can he wash the stains from his character? What else besides a bad character 
is given? Will a few drops of water change the color of a bottle of ink? Will 
a few drops of ink change the color of a glass of water ? Who are like the ink- 
drops? Who are like the water-drops? Why? Whom shall we choose for 
companions? Who will be our companions in eternity? 




The Children of Israel Camping in the Wilderness. 



DOGS. 



THE DOGS OF ST. BERNARD. 



Suggestion : — If a real live dog is too diverting, an earthen or bisque dog, 
or the accompanying picture of the dogs of St. Bernard, may be sufficient. 



M 



Y DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: I want to talk to you 
to-day about dogs. The dog is what is called a domes- 
tic animal, and wherever you find civilized men and 
women, you will find dogs of some kind. Dogs are not 
only loved because they are companionable, but because they are 
also, oftentimes, very serviceable. 

In Switzerland there are some very high mountains, and 
some years ago, when there were no tunnels yet dug under the 
mountains, as there are to-day, travelers during the winter, when 
going from Germany to Italy, or returning from Italy to Germany, 
had to cross over the tops of these mountains. The snow was 
always deep and the journey was always dangerous, particularly 
in the winter. 

There are several places where the mountains can be crossed, 
and these places are called "passes," such as the Simplon, St. Ber- 
nard and St. Gothard passes. Some years ago, in company with a 
friend, I crossed the St. Gothard pass on the 20th of June. That 
year the season was very late, and after we got well up the moun- 
tain, we found the snow from five to ten feet deep on the level, and 
when we arrived on the top of the mountain, the snow was even 
with the roof of a two-story building which stood there, and the 
272 





Xf\Bw 



\b^ 



%Jte>- J 






h 



The Dogs of St. Bernard 







dogs. 275 

people living in it had tunneled under the snow, around the outside 
of the building. If this was the way it was on the 20th of June, 
you can easily imagine what an awfully cold and stormy place it 
must be to live during the entire winter. It took our horses a long 
time to take us up the mountain, but when we went down on the 
Italian side they went quite rapidly, and in one hour and forty min- 
utes from the time we left the Hotel de la Prosa, where the snow 
was so very deep, we were down in the village of Airolo, where 
little girls were selling ripe cherries. It seemed as though we had 
jumped right out of the heart of winter, into the pleasant and fruit- 
ful days of summer. 

On the top of each of these mountain passes, there is built 
what is called a hospice, which means hospitality, the same word 
from which we get our word hospital. These buildings are erected 
for the entertainment of poor travelers, who are compelled to cross 
the mountains in the winter. There are a number of monks, who 
live in each of these places of entertainment. On each of these 
mountain passes the monks have some large dogs, which are known 
as the dogs of St. Bernard. In the winter when it is snowing, and 
travelers are likely to be exhausted by their efforts to ascend the 
mountain, and are liable to be lost in the snow-storms which prevail 
almost every day, these dogs are sent out by the monks with a sup- 
ply of food and wine suspended from their necks, and they go all 
over the mountain, barking and making a great noise. When they 
discover a poor traveler who is perishing in the snow, they allow 
him to take the food and the wine in order that he may be stimu- 
lated and revived, and then these faithful and intelligent dogs lead 
the way to the place of safety and security. 

Oftentimes they find men who have become nearly frozen, 
who have fallen down in the snow in an unconscious state and are 
ready to die. If left for a time these men would soon freeze to 






276 



DOGS. 



death beneath the snow that falls very rapidly upon them. These 
dogs are very intelligent, and immediately they will begin to scrape 
the snow off the traveler, lick his hands, and if he does not give 
any indications of life they will then lie down upon his body, that 
the warmth from their own body may quicken him again into con- 
sciousness, that he 
may drink the 
wine and eat the 
food and be stimu- 
lated enough to do 
something toward 
getting himself on 
to the place of 
safety. If the man 
is not too heavy, 
the dog might 
even be able to 
carry him. 

At the hos- 
pice on the St. 
Bernard pass they 
once had a faith- 
ful dog which had 
been successful in 
thus rescuing six- 
ty-eight persons 

Dogs Rescuing Traveler. frQm f reez { ng to 

death upon the mountains. The dog was very sagacious, and 
seemed to know exactly what to do when he found a poor traveler 
dying in the snow. One day he found a man who had evidently 
been lying for some time in the snow, which had already quite 




dogs. 277 

buried him. The man was entirely unconscious, and when the dog 
found him he began immediately to scrape away the snow and then 
lay down upon this dying man, that the warmth of his own body 
might quicken him again into consciousness. When the man began 
to revive, and discovered that there was something warm lying upon 
him, he thought it was a wolf or some wild animal which possibly 
designed to take his life. He reached into his belt and drew a dag- 
ger, which he thrust into the body of the faithful dog that had come 
to rescue him from freezing to death. The poor dog was fatally 
wounded. He started back home, but in a short time after reaching 
it bled to death. The monks had this dog's skin stuffed and placed 
in the hospice, and now he seems constantly to teach an object lesson 
to all travelers who cross the Alps and stop at the hospice. 

The story of this faithful dog and his sad death reminds us 
of that loving Saviour, who came from heaven to this world, to 
seek and to save those who were lost. And although He came to 
redeem and rescue us from death, yet wicked men in this world 
crucified Him by nailing Him to a cross upon Calvary, and this is 
what every person is doing to-day who rejects the Lord Jesus 
Christ. He comes to you and to me, desiring to save us 
from our sins and from everlasting death; to save not only our 
bodies, but our souls for all eternity. If we reject Him we are told 
in the Bible that "we crucify Him afresh, and put Him to an open 
shame." I am sure no thoughtful boy or girl would be guilty of 
wilfully stabbing any kind dog that would come to their rescue if 
they were perishing in the snow, and I trust that none of you will 
ever reject Jesus and thrust Him away from you, and thus crucify 
Him for yourself and put Him to an open shame before the world. 

This faithful dog should also teach you and me another les- 
son. If a dog can make himself so useful as to save the lives of 
sixty-eight people, you and I should ask ourselves the question 



jr 



278 dogs. 

whether we are doing as much for the blessing and the salvation of 
men as this faithful dog did on the mountains of Switzerland? But 
you can do a great deal more than this dog. He could only save 
the lives of people, but God can use you to save their souls as well, 
by the influence of a noble Christian life, by what you say and do, 
by your contributions to missions, and in various other ways you may 
help to save the souls of many who must otherwise perish. 

But this faithful dog teaches us a lesson of constant, daily 
duty. It was no easy thing for this dog to go out in the fierce cold 
through the deep snow and run about all day to hunt for lost trav- 
elers, but it was by keeping constantly at it and working faithfully 
day after day that he accomplished this grand result. He did not 
save sixty-eight people all at one time, but saved one at a time, and 
sometimes worked for days and weeks without finding a single 
traveler whom he could help. In the same way, if you desire to be 
useful in this world, you must use every little opportunity which 
comes to you daily. You must be willing to work hard and keep at 
it, and even though you cannot succeed in doing any great thing at 
any one time, remember that you must keep doing little things all 
the while. I trust that God may inspire each of you to desire to 
accomplish grand results in your lives by the constant doing of both 
little and great things for God and man. 

Questions. — Are dogs serviceable? What kinds are the most useful? 
Where do they live ? For what and by whom are they used ? What do the dogs 
do to revive a traveler? Tell the story of the dog of the St. Bernard Pass. Of 
what does this story remind us? Does Christ try to rescue us? What are we 
doing when we reject Him? What lesson does this dog teach us? Can we do 
as much as this dog did? Why? What can we do which the dog could not do? 
What other lesson does this dog teach us? Did the dog save all the sixty-eight 
people at one time? Are we able to accomplish God's work all at one time? 
How must we do it? 



THE CAMERA. 

god's picture book. 

Suggestion: — Objects: A small camera and a small looking glass. 

WHILE talking to you to-day about pictures, it will not 
seem strange that I should have a camera as the object 
with which to illustrate the sermon. But my purpose 
may not be so plain to you when you hear my text, 
which is taken from the book of Revelation, twentieth chapter, 
twelfth verse: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before 
God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, 




A Camera. 



which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those 

things which were written in the books, according to their works." 

These words refer to the great Judgment Day. I suppose that 

you know that we must all die, but possibly you did not know, or 

279 




280 'Throwing a Black Cloth Over His Head He Moved About the Camera." 



THE CAMERA. 281 

have forgotten, that after a time God will raise up all the dead and 
will separate the good people from the bad people, the righteous 
from the wicked. The time when God will do this is called the 
great Judgment Day. It is then that the v/ords which I have read 
as my text tell us that "the books shall be opened," and then all 
that we have ever done or said in this life shall be found written in 
these books. 

Now, if God is keeping a record of all our deeds and words, 
and even our inmost thoughts, which He also knows; and not only 
keeping a record of your words and thoughts and mine, but also of 
those of every man, woman and child — a record of all the four- 
teen hundred millions now living upon our earth — you might think 
that millions of angels would be kept very busy writing all these 
things down in these books. I do not know just how God is doing 
this, but I do know two ways in which He could easily accomplish 
what to us may seem a difficult or impossible task. 

I will now try to show you how God might keep the record of 
everything we do; and next Sunday I will try to tell you how, with 
equal ease, God might secure and keep the record of all we say, of 
each and every word we speak. 

I suppose you have all gone to a photograph gallery and had 
your pictures taken. When you stood before an instrument, some- 
thing like this, only perhaps much larger, the artist went behind the 
big instrument, which was pointed right toward you, and throwing 
a black cloth over his head, he moved about the camera, told you 
just how to hold your head, and finally when everything was 
arranged and he was ready, he pressed a small rubber ball which 
opened the little slide, just as you would open your eye to look at 
any object, and in an instant your picture was taken. 

That large camera, with which the artist took your picture, 
was in principle just like the smaller and more simple one which I 



282 THE CAMERA. 

have shown you, and both are made to imitate, or in a rude way to 
be like the human eye. 

Now, if I point this camera toward you, make it dark back of 
the camera, either by placing a black cloth over my head or in any 
other way, your picture will at once appear upon this glass which is 
at the back of the camera. Now the reason why I can see your 
photograph on this ground glass is because the rays of light which 
are reflected or come from your face, into this opening in the cam- 
era, have your likeness upon them, and when the light falls against 
this glass I can see your picture which is photographed upon the 
rays of light, just the same as your picture is photographed on paper. 
So every object about us is photographed on the rays of light and 
the picture becomes visible when we turn our eye, which is a small 
but perfect camera, so that the rays of light can go straight into our 
eye and the picture fall upon the back of the eye, which is called 
the retina, and with which this glass in the camera corresponds. 

An ordinary looking-glass will demonstrate or show the same 
thing. This covering on the back of the glass corresponds to the 
black cloth with which the photographer shuts out the rays of light 
which come from the back of the camera. In the same way the 
ground at the bottom of the pond cuts off the rays from beneath, 
and on this account you can see the hills, or stars, or clouds reflected 
in the water; so also in the looking-glass, as you turn it in different 
directions you can see the photographs of persons or objects which 
are pictured upon the rays of light. 

You may have thought that you saw the person or objects 
themselves, but this is not the case. With your eyes you can see 
nothing in the dark; even the cat and the owl must have some light, 
although they do not need as much as we, before they can see. 
The rays of light carry the pictures of the objects, and where there 
are no rays of light we can see nothing. 



THE CAMERA. 283 

Now, while your photograph is being taken from the few 
rays of light which pass into a camera, you see that we might place 
hundreds of cameras one above another, and if they weire all 
pointed at you they might each take a photograph of you at the 
same instant — the same as one thousand different persons in an 
audience with their two thousand eyes all look toward the speaker 
and see him at one and the same instant. 

Now, if I have succeeded in making my thought plain, you 
will readily understand that as we have great books with pictures 
upon every page, so God might use these rays of light as the pages 
of the great book upon which each act of our life instantly records 
itself, it matters not how rapidly it is done or how many persons and 
objects there may be in motion or action at the same instant. The 
fact that the different rays of light carry the pictures of the objects 
from which they are reflected, is illustrated in the wonderful cam- 
eras with which "moving pictures" are taken. 

To older persons I might add that if you recall the scientific 
fact that these rays of light, bearing the images or photographs of 
persons and objects from which they are reflected, dash out into 
space at the rate of 192,000 miles in one second, and that they con- 
tinue to move on indefinitely, you see how the rays of light which 
were reflected and are now carrying the image of Adam and Eve 
in the garden of Eden, of Noah coming out of the ark, of the battle 
of Bunker Hill, and those carrying the pictures of all other objects 
and actions since the Creation until now, are still sweeping on 
through space, and if you and I could be present where these rays 
of light are now sweeping onward, we could see these things as actu- 
ally and really as if they were even now taking place in our presence 
upon the earth. And you will also understand how, as God is 
everywhere present, He is also present in space where these rays of 
light are at this moment, and so every scene in the entire history of 



284 



THE CAMERA, 



the world is perpetually visible to Him. And so, even with our 
feeble understanding, you see how the past may always be present 
to the Infinite and everywhere-present God. 

Now, my dear young friends, remember as we see the acts of 
each other, so God sees all that we do, even when no one else is 
present to see us. Do not think that God sees and then forgets. 
All we do is being constantly photographed, not in a camera like 
this, but upon the rays of light as upon the pages of a great book, 
and in the great Judgment Day, God will judge us out of the things 
recorded against us in these books. Our acts record themselves, 
and in that great day we shall no more be able to deny the correct- 
ness of the record than we would be able to deny the personality or 
identity of our own photograph. 

Questions. — What is meant by the great Judgment Day? What will God 
do on that day? Of what does God keep a record? Do we know exactly how 
He does it? What two ways are there in which He might do it? What brings 
the person's image upon the ground glass of the camera? What have we that is 
like the camera? Which part of the eye is like the ground glass of the camera? 
Why can we not see in the dark? Could God use the rays of light instead of the 
pages of a book? Is the image of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden still 
existing? Where? Are the images of all other events also passing through 
space ? Can God see them all at once ? Does God see all of our acts ? 





THE PHONOGRAPH. 

BOOKS THAT TALK. 

Suggestion: — Object: A small tin box, with a cover and bottom removed. 
Over one end draw and tie a piece of parchment, or even of strong manilla paper, 
in the center of the miniature drum-head thus formed fasten a thin string, and 
you will then have a rude but real telephone and a good representation also of 
the phonograph. 

LAST Sunday I talked to you about the great Judgment Day 
and tried to illustrate to your minds what is said in Revela- 
tion, twentieth chapter, twelfth verse, where it says, "The 
dead were judged out of those things which were written 
in the books, according to their works." I tried then to make plain 
how God pictures or photographs all our acts upon the rays of light, 

285 



286 THE PHONOGRAPH. 

and how we see the objects about us when the rays of light fall upon 
the retina of the eye. I tried to show you how every ray of light 
carries a photograph or picture, and that these rays of light are 
sweeping out into space at the rate of 1 92,000 miles per second, and 
that if you and I could be present where these rays, carrying the 
picture of the battle of Bunker Hill are now hurrying through space, 
you could see the battle, as if it were taking place at present. If 
you had a camera with you, you could actually take a photograph 
of it, the same as you could have done had you been on the hills out- 
side of Boston on the day when this great battle was being fought. 

But that is only one book; God has other books also. But you 
know you can not photograph what a person says. So I want to try 
and show you how our words and all we say also go into a great book 
and write themselves down, so as to become permanent for all time. 

Now, I have here a baking-powder box, from which I have 
removed the ends, and in place of the tin have covered it with a 
stout piece of paper which I have tried to draw very smoothly. 
With two such boxes, connected by a string, we could make a tele- 
phone so that we could talk together a short distance. Or with only 
one box we could construct a very rude but yet very suggestive 
phonograph. 

Let me tell you how it is that you can hear over the telephone, 
whether made of a simple box and string like this, or with a wire 
and electric battery, for in one respect they are both alike. 

If you will place your finger gently on your throat, against 
what is sometimes called "Adam's Apple," but what is really the 
delicate little instrument with which we speak, and then utter some 
words in a strong, clear voice, you will doubtless feel a vibration or 
trembling in your throat, just the same as I now feel in my throat 
while I am talking. My effort to speak causes these little chords in 
my throat to vibrate, just the same as when you pass your fingers 



THE PHONOGRAPH. 



287 



over the chords of a harp or violin, or when you strike the keys of a 
piano you make the wires tremble and thus produce sound, so these 
chords in my throat tremble and cause the air to tremble, produc- 
ing what we call sound-waves. Just the same as when you take a 
stone and drop it into the lake, you see the little waves or ripples, 
as we call them, go out in small circles, wider and wider, further 
and further, until they strike the distant shore. So the air is made to 
vibrate by my effort to speak, and these little sound-waves in the air 
strike against the drum of your ear, back of which there are nerves, 




"The Little Waves or Ripples." 

ever ready to convey to the brain the sensation which we call sound. 

"Like clear circles widening round 
Upon a clear blue river, 
Orb after orb, the wondrous sound 
Is echoed on forever." 

Now, this small baking-powder box represents the ear, and 
the paper at this end represents the drum of the ear, and this string 
represents the nerves. This string may be prolonged for a consider- 
able distance, and if you were to connect the end of the string with 
another box of the same sort you would then have a telephone with 

18 



288 



THE PHONOGRAPH. 



which you would be able to hear quite plainly the words which are 
spoken by some other person at the opposite end of the string. When 
I speak into this box it makes the paper tremble, and that makes the 
string tremble, and if there were another box at the far end of the 
line it would cause the paper on the end of that box to tremble just 
the same, and that would cause the air to tremble where that box is, 
and if you were to hold your ear to that box you would be able to 
hear the words. 

If I take this box, and instead of a string I should place the 
point of a needle back of it, and a cylinder to revolve, so that the 
needle would scratch the vibrations upon the cylinder, I would then 

have a phonograph. I would then 
be able to record the words, and 
with another smooth needle to go 
into the scratches which had been 
made by the sharp needle, I would 
be able to reproduce the sound; 
or, in other words, to make the 
cylinder talk back again to me the 
words which I had spoken into the tin box and recorded upon the 
cylinder. 

Just as light carries the photograph or picture, so the air car- 
ries the sound of our words and other vibrations of the atmosphere 
which we call sound. Thus you see the light is one book and the 
air is another, and God doubtless has many other forms of making 
and keeping the record of our actions and words — yes, even of our 
thoughts, and in the great Judgment Day these words which we 
utter will say themselves over again in our ears. If you uttered any 
bad or wicked words yesterday or to-day, or shall do so to-morrow, 
remember you will have to give an account of them in the great 
Day of Judgment. 




Phonograph Cylinder. 



THE PHONOGRAPH. 289 

But there is another thing connected with our uttering of bad 
words, as well as the fact that we must give an account of them. 
Bad words are connected with bad thoughts, and so every bad 
word which we utter indicates the character of our thoughts and has 
a bad influence upon our minds and hearts. 

Not only do these words record themselves upon the atmos- 
phere, but they also record themselves in a lasting — yes, in an 
eternal influence upon the hearts and the minds and the lives of 
those who hear them. Just the same as the words which are 
spoken into a phonograph are recorded and can be repeated over 
and over many times, so the bad words and the wicked thoughts 
which are expressed into the ears of others make an indelible 
record upon their thoughts and hearts, and are oftentimes repeated 
to others, thus multiplying the record, and at last all these records 
will appear against us in the great Day of Judgment. How care- 
ful you and I should be to speak only good words and to think 
only good thoughts. 

Questions. — Has God other record books beside the one of deeds? What 
does one of the other books record? What is a telephone? What is a phono- 
graph? What happens to the air when our words strike it? What are these 
air-vibrations called? What does the air do with sound? What two things may 
be used as God's recording books ? Must all bad words be accounted for ? What 
do bad words indicate? Upon what instrument can words also be recorded? 
Are all words like those which are recorded by a phonograph? Why? (Per- 
manent). Will God hold these records against us on the Judgment Day? 



MAGNET AND NEEDLE. 
god's guiding hand. 

Suggestion: — Objects used: A magnet, a piece of paper and an ordinary 
sewing needle. In the illustration lay the needle flat against the paper directly 
under the magnet. The ordinary magnet, purchased for a few cents in a toy 
store, will answer the purpose. 



M 



Y DEAR LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: The 

Bible everywhere teaches us that God is the Supreme 

Ruler of the universe. Not only has He created the 

vast system of worlds about us, but He directs each in 

its orbit. He rules over the destinies of nations, and although 

wicked men plot and plan, yet over and above them all God is 

ruling, and He makes even the wrath of men to praise Him. 

When you are older and can make a careful study of the 
Book of Daniel, which is in the Old Testament, and then read 
the history of the world in the light of the teachings of that Book, 
you will see how God used the five great empires of the earth to 
prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah, and how since 
the time of Christ He has used the other nations to prepare the 
world for the full acceptance of the truth and the final triumph 
of righteousness. 

But God not only governs in the affairs of nations, He also 
governs and directs in the life of each individual. He not only 
gives us being and preserves our lives and health, but He has 
redeemed us from sin and death by the gift of His Son, Jesus 
Christ; and if we are willing, He will guide us in all the affairs of 
290 



MAGNET AND NEEDLE. 291 

life. Nothing is too minute nor too insignificant to receive His 
thought and attention, and not even the sorrow of a child over a 
broken toy escapes His notice or fails to touch His loving heart. 

But many people are not able to understand, and seem also 
unwilling to accept anything that they cannot see, or comprehend 
with one of their five senses. I have therefore brought this mag- 
net, this piece of paper, and this needle, such as women use when 
they sew, in order to show you how God can guide us by His 
unseen hand. 

When I lift this needle with my fingers and then let go of it 
you will notice how it drops immediately to the floor. Now, when 
I lift this magnet in the same way, and then let go of it, it will also 
drop in the same manner. But now I am going to hold this mag- 
net up, and bring the needle close to the magnet. Now when I let 
loose of the needle with my fingers 
you see how it is held by the magnet. 
The gravity, or, as we would say, the 
weight of the needle, which would 
cause it to fall to the floor, is overcome 
by some greater or stronger power 
which is in the magnet. Now, you Ma -s net and NeedIe - 

cannot perceive that power with any of your senses ; you can neither 
hear it, smell it, taste it nor feel it. You can see the effect of that 
power, but the power itself you cannot see. In like manner, also, 
there are powers and influences all about us which we cannot per- 
ceive with any of our senses, but which are constantly exercising 
their influence upon us and upon things about us. 

But now, by the use of this paper, I desire to show you some- 
thing additional. I am going to place the magnet above the paper, 
and the needle below the paper, and show you that even through 
the paper this influence or power which holds the needle exerts itself. 




292 



MAGNET AND NEEDLE. 



You will see now that when I lay the needle lengthwise against the 
paper, with the magnet upon the opposite side, that the needle is held 
up against this paper and does not fall, as it would if the magnet 
were removed. You will notice also that, as I move this magnet 
from place to place, the needle on the lower side of the paper fol- 
lows the magnet. In this simple little experiment you are able to 
see the magnet, but suppose for a moment that this paper were 
increased in size until it was as large as the ceiling of this entire 
room. You will understand that then the magnet and any person 
moving the magnet might be entirely out of sight, and as the magnet 

would be moved from place to 
place on the upper side of the 
paper, entirely out of view, the 
needle on the lower side, which 
could be easily seen, would move 
from place to place, following the 
magnet. 

This little experiment illus- 
trates to us not how God guides 
us, but it will show us that there 
are powers unknown and unseen 
by us which can hold and guide 
even insensible metal. How 
much more easily, then, can God 
sustain and guide our thoughts, our purposes, our steps and our 
lives. 

We are free moral agents. God has left us free to resist His 
power and His grace, and to live in defiance of all that He has 
commanded us, and of all that He desires us to do. But if we are 
willing to be led by His Spirit, and to walk in His way, God is 
willing to guide us, if we will come to Him and ask Him for the 




Paper no Hindrance. 



MAGNET AND NEEDLE. 293 

Holy Spirit to lead us in the way in which He would have us to 
walk. 

There are many who do resist God's will and purpose, and 
live in open defiance of all His teachings, and of all that God 
would have them to do. I take it for granted, however, that there 
are no such people here, but that you all desire to live in such a 
way as to secure your greatest happiness and your greatest good 
upon this earth, and your eternal happiness and blessedness in the 
world to come. 

In closing this little sermon, I therefore desire to impress upon 
your minds the fact that you and I are without experience in many 
of the most trying and most important events which come to us in 
life. We are constantly liable to be mistaken. We cannot see 
ahead of us, and do not always know what is for our own good. 
God knows all things, the future as well as the past. He cannot 
be mistaken and must therefore know beyond the possibility of 
error what will be for our good. God not only knows what will 
be for our good but He desires our good, therefore we should let 
Him guide us. 

Now, the question might arise in your minds, how does God 
guide us? He guides us by the teachings of His Word. He has 
told us in the Bible how we ought to live, what is for our present 
and eternal good. If we desire financial prosperity, or physical 
blessings, or mental quickness, or spiritual peace, we will find in the 
teachings of God's Word how to obtain them. 

God also guides us by the exercise of our consciences, and 
therefore it is always important that you and I should do what 
conscience tells us to be right. First of all we should study God's 
Word, in order that we may have an enlightened conscience, and 
then we should always follow conscience. 

God also guides us by the Holy Spirit, and it is our duty to 



294 MAGNET AND NEEDLE. 

come to Him daily and ask Him for the presence and power of the 
Holy Ghost to guide us through each day, and to bring us at last 
to Heaven above. 

Now, I trust you will all be able to enter heartily into the 
prayer which we are going to sing, for when we sing thoughtfully 
we will find that many hymns contain petitions as well as praise, 
and this is one of the kind which partakes largely of the nature of 
petition. Let us all sing the hymn, 

"Guide me, O, Thou great Jehovah." 

Questions. — Who is the Supreme Ruler of the Universe? Who governs 
the life of every person? Does any little thing escape His notice? Are some 
people unwilling to believe what they cannot see? Can we see, hear, smell, or 
feel the power in the magnet? Why do we believe it is there? Are there influ- 
ences around us like the power in the magnet? Can they all be seen? Will the 
paper between the magnet and the needle destroy the attracting power of the 
magnet? Who are like the needle? Like whom is the magnet? Does He guide 
us? Can we see Him? Are we free to do as we choose? When will God lead 
us? Do some people defy God? Do we always know what is best for us, or 
what to do when in trouble ? Who does know ? By what three means does God 
guide us? 




FISH IN AQUARIUM, 



THE ALL-SEEING EYE OF GOD. 

Suggestion: — Object: A small aquarium with a few small fishes. 



M 



DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I have here an 
aquarium with a few very pretty goldfishes in it. As 
they swim from side to side they look very beautiful. 
When they see me coming nearer to the aquarium, or 

moving my hand upon this side or the other, they dart very quickly 

to the opposite side of the aquarium. They try to get out of sight, 

but it makes no difference 

whether they are upon this side 

or upon the other side of the 

aquarium, I can see them just 

as well. I can look right through 

the aquarium; I can see through 

the glass, and I can see through 

the water. And wherever the 

fishes are in this aquarium, I 

can see them. It is impossible 

for them to hide away, or to get 

out of my sight. 

Now, the Bible tells us that "the eyes of the Lord are in every 

place, beholding the evil and the good." (Prov. xv: 3.) We are 

very clearly taught in the Bible, that it makes no difference where 

we are, God can see us just as well in one place as in another. He 

can see us in the night just as well as in the daytime, for "the 

darkness and the light are alike unto Him." David said, "He 

295 




Fishes in Aquarium. 



296 FISH IN AQUARIUM. 

that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." (Psalm cxxi: 
4.) So it makes no difference whether you are in the house or out 
of doors, whether it is day or whether it is night, God can see right 
through the house, just as you and I can look through this aquarium 
and through the water, so God can see right through the thick walls 
of a house, or even through a great mountain. If you were in the 
valley beyond the mountain, God could see right through the moun- 
tain; that would make no difference. He can even see way 
through the earth, from this side through to China. It makes no 
difference to God, for He can see just as well through material sub- 
stances, through which you and I cannot look, as we can see through 
the air; indeed much better, for distance limits the possibility of 
our seeing distinctly and clearly, while God's power to see is not 
limited or circumscribed. 

Once there was a very excellent, good woman, who had a 
very nice and conscientious little boy, but the mother was poor and 
had to go out from day to day to earn her living. Each night when 
she returned home the little boy was very lonely, and would watch 
very patiently for his mother, and when he saw her coming, he 
would always run to the door to meet her, and throw his arms 
about her neck. But one evening when she returned, she noticed 
that little Willie was not at the door to meet her. She could not 
understand why, when she came into the house he seemed to be 
afraid of her. He tried to avoid her. After a time the mother 
called Willie to her and threw her arms around his neck and 
kissed him very tenderly. This was too much for the little 
boy's heart. He looked up into his mother's face, and said, 
"Mamma, can God see through a crack in the door?" His 
mother said, "Yes, God can see everywhere." He said, "Mamma, 
can God see in the cupboard if it is dark in the cupboard?" 
"Yes, Willie, God can see in the dark as well as in the light." 




There is One Direction That You Have not Looked.*' 297 



298 



FISH IN AQUARIUM, 



Willie looked up into his mother's face and said, "Then I 
might as well tell you. To-day I was very hungry, and although 
you told me that I should not take the cake which you had put in 
the closet, yet I went to the closet, and when I had closed the door, 
and it was all dark, I felt around till I got a piece of the cake, and I 
ate it. I did not know that God could see in the dark. I am very 
sorry that I have been so wicked and so naughty." And so little 
Willie threw his arms around his mamma's neck and laid his head 

upon her shoulder 
and wept very bit- 
terly. 

Once a man 
went to steal corn 
out of his neigh- 
bor's field. He 
took his little boy 
with him to hold 
the bag open, 
while he should 
pull the corn and 
put it in the bag. 
After they had 
reached the corn- 
field the father 
looked this way 
and that way, and looked about him in every direction, and when 
he had given the little boy the bag to hold open, the little boy 
looked at his father and said, "Father, there is one direction that 
you have not looked yet." The father was quite frightened and 
supposed that his son had seen some one coming in some direction. 
But the son said, "You have not looked up. There is some one in 




Eye in the Pulpit. 



FISH IN AQUARIUM. 299 

that direction I am sure who sees us." The father was so much 
impressed that he turned away from his sinful purpose, and returned 
home, never again to steal from anyone. 

Many years ago, among some of the denominations when they 
built a church, they used to build the pulpit very high. It was built 
almost as high as the gallery. And when the people sat in the 
pews and desired to see the minister, they had to bend their heads 
back, and look up very high toward the pulpit. At Reading, 
Pennsylvania, there is still one of these old pulpits which was for- 
merly in use. On the under side of the shelf upon which the 
Bible rested in that pulpit, there was painted a large eye. And 
when the people would look up from the pews to see the minister, 
or towards the Bible, underneath this lid upon which the Bible 
rested they would always see this large eye. This eye would seem 
to look right down upon each one individually, and thus they 
would constantly be reminded of the text, "Thou God seest me," 
and the text which I repeated at the opening of this sermon, "The 
eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the 
good." And so Sunday after Sunday, and year after year, from 
childhood to manhood, this object sermon was constantly being 
preached to them. 

Whenever Satan tempts you to do wrong, remember that you 
cannot escape from the eyes of One who sees you constantly, and 
although no human being might know of your wickedness, yet 
God sees you, and God knows it all, for "His eyes behold, His 
eyelids try the children of men." (Psalm xi: 4. ) 

Questions. — Can the fish in the aquarium hide from our sight? How are 
we like the fish in the aquarium? What does the Bible say about the eyes of 
the Lord? Can darkness hide us from God's sight? Can He see through the 
earth? Tell about the little boy who ate the cake in the dark. Tell about the 
little boy whose father wanted to steal corn. Why was a large eye painted on 
the pulpit in the church? When we are tempted by Satan, what should we 
remember ? 



THE CLOCK. 

MEASURING TIME. 

Suggestion: — Object: An ordinary clock or watch. 

I HAVE here a clock, with which I desire to illustrate and 
emphasize the truth taught us in the twelfth verse of the nine- 
tieth Psalm, where it says, "So teach us to number our days, 
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." 
Whatever is valuable we measure. Some things are measured 
by the yard, some things by the quart or gallon, other things by the 
pound or by the ton. Land is measured by the acre, One of the 
most valuable things that God gives to us is time. Queen Eliza- 
beth, when she was dying, was willing to give her entire kingdom 
if she could only have one hour more in which to prepare for death. 
As time is very valuable we measure it in seconds, minutes, 
hours, days, weeks, months, years, centuries. In the earliest time 
men had no means of measuring time, except as they saw it meas- 
ured with the great clock which God has set in the heavens; for 
He tells us in the first chapter of Genesis that He made "the sun 
to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night." The most accur- 
ate clocks in the world are those which most nearly keep time with 
the sun. All the effort to regulate clocks and watches is simply 
to adjust their movements so as to have them keep time with the 
movement of the sun. God has given us a conscience which is 
designed to regulate our lives until they shall be in harmony with 
the life of Christ, who is the Sun of Righteousness. Hundreds of 
300 



THE CLOCK. 301 

years before Christ came, people may have had some very rude 
way of dividing the time during the day and night, but their prin- 
cipal division of time was simply day and night, summer and win- 
ter. These changes of day and night, summer and winter, helped 
to mark the progress of time, and they still do. If it were all day- 
time, or all night, and we had no clocks, we would have no means 
of measuring time. When Baron de Trench was liberated from 
his dungeon in Magdeburg, where the King of Persia had con- 
fined him in darkness for a period of ten years, where he had no 
means of measuring how the time passed and had even very few 
thoughts — when he was liberated, and was told that he had been 
in prison for ten years, his astonishment was almost beyond expres- 
sion, for it had not seemed to him to be so long. It had passed away 
like a painful dream. 

In the early period of the world's history, human life was 
much longer than at present. Men lived to be several hundred 
years old. I suppose you can all tell how old Methuselah was. 
He was the oldest man who ever lived. When human life became 
shorter, time consequently became more valuable and men were 
more anxious to measure it. 

I want to show you how to measure time, and what makes 
it valuable; for David asked to be taught properly to number his 
days; and the purpose was so that he might apply his heart unto 
wisdom. 

Now, this watch and this clock are instruments with which we 
measure time. Once there was a king who desired not to forget 
that, like other men, he must die, and he had a man whose duty 
it was to come before him each hour and repeat the words: 
"Remember thou art mortal!" That is, every hour he had this 
man remind him that sometime he would have to die. Each time 
the man came in before the king, he was reminded that he had one 



302 



THE CLOCK, 



hour less to live; so, each and every time that you hear the clock 
strike, you should be reminded of the fact that another hour has 
passed, and that you have one less to live. In this sense every 
clock has a tongue, and when it strikes it tells us that we will now 
have one hour less to live upon the earth. 

The earliest device for measuring time was doubtless the sun- 
dial. Perhaps you have never seen one. It is simply a round plate 
or disc of metal, with a small piece of metal standing upright in 
such a position that when the sun shines, the shadow will be thrown 
upon the round cylinder or disc, around which are figures like those 

on the face of a watch or clock. Such meth- 
ods of measuring time we know were used 
at least seven hundred and thirteen years 
before Christ, for in the book of Isaiah, thir- 
ty-eighth chapter and eighth verse, we find a 
very direct allusion to it. King Alfred of 
England used to use candles that were of 
uniform length; each candle would burn 
three hours, and by burning four candles, one 
after another, he could measure the hours 
of the day. In order to prevent the air from 
blowing against the candle and thus making 
it burn more rapidly or interfering with its 
accuracy in measuring time, he placed a horn or shield around it, 
and in the old cathedrals this was the way they measured time. 
Later on they had hour glasses, such as you sometimes see placed 
on the piano when girls are practicing their music lesson. Some- 
times you see small ones in the kitchen, which are used for timing 
the eggs while they are boiling, and it is to these forms of glasses 
that various poetical allusions are made when death is spoken of as 
the "sands of life" running out. 




Hour-glass. 




19 



What Use Do You Make of Your Time?' 



303 



304 THE CLOCK. 

Later came the clocks. They were first made about 2,000 
years ago, but were very rude and awkward. The first watches 
were made about 475 years ago, but they were very large, and you 
would almost need to have a man to carry your watch for you, it 
was so heavy. Smaller watches were first made about 200 years 
ago, and now they have some that are so very small that you could 
carry six or seven of them in your vest pocket without inconveni- 
ence. How else could we tell about the time of the departure of 
trains and steamboats, the hours to go to work in the factory or to go 
to school, when to go to church? And the enjoyment of many 
other things depends upon knowing accurately what moment we 
should be on hand. You should learn never to be late, but always 
to be prompt. Suppose that, with an audience of six hundred 
people, the preacher should be five minutes late. Each person 
would then have lost five minutes. This, for the entire six hundred 
present, would have been equal to more than forty-eight hours for 
a single person — more than two days and two nights. 

But now what is it that makes time valuable? It is the use 
that we can make of it. David wanted to know about it, so that he 
could apply his heart unto wisdom. The man who does nothing 
with his time, in the eyes of others, is worth nothing; but the busy 
man always finds that his time is very valuable. It is strange, also, 
that when you go to idle people and ask them to do anything they 
always say they haven't time, so that the expression has come to 
be used that "if you want anything done go to a busy man." The 
more busy the man is the more likely he is to find time, in some 
way, to undertake any new form of useful endeavor and work. 

Now, I want to ask you, What use do you make of your time? 
Are you faithful in the use of every moment at home, diligent in 
doing the work assigned you, looking about you, and doing your 
own thinking, finding, for yourself, what is to be done, instead of 



THE CLOCK. 305 

standing around and waiting to be told? Are you diligent in 
school, always studying your lessons, learning all that you possibly 
can, remembering that everything that you can learn will at some 
time be of service to you? If you are employed in a store, or 
engaged in any other kind of business, are you faithful, using each 
moment and each hour, remembering that you are not to be faithful 
simply when your employer is looking at you, but you are to be 
faithful at all times? As the Bible says, "Not with eye service, as 
men pleasers" (Colos. iii: 22), but doing everything as unto the 
Lord. Are you faithful in the matter of attending church, and 
then when you are in the church, giving your mind to the considera- 
tion of the truth which is being presented, rather than allowing 
your mind to be engaged with the amusements and plays of last 
week, or the plans and purposes of next week? Are you faithful 
in the Sunday-school ? Do you listen attentively to the lessons 
which are taught by your Sunday-school teacher? Each minute of 
the thirty devoted to the study of the lesson is very important, and 
all of the other moments in the Sunday-school are very important. 

I was wondering the other day why the clock should have 
the long hand point to the minutes, and the short hand to the hours; 
but after all, it seems very wise that the greater emphasis, and 
greater importance should be attached to the longer hand. It points 
to the minutes, as though it were constantly saying to you and to me, 
look out for these minutes, look out for these small parts of the hour, 
and the whole hour will take care of itself. The big hand points 
to the minutes because, after all, they are the important things. It 
is like the old saying, "if we take care of the pennies, the dollars 
will take care of themselves." If we will take care of the minutes, 
the hours will take care of themselves. 

If you have never thought on these things, and have been an 
idler, I want to ask you to "Redeem the time." (Eph. v: 16.) 



306 THE CLOCK. 

That is, do not let your time go to waste. If you are not 
a Christian, even though you are very busy and very indus- 
trious concerning temporal things, you are really wasting your 
time. We are placed here upon the earth in order that we may love 
and serve God. That is our main business here. If we are going to 
serve Christ, we should study to know His life and His teachings, 
and yet some people know very little about the Bible. Did you 
ever stop to think that a man who is thirty-five years old has had 
five solid years of Sundays? And the man who is seventy years 
old, has had ten solid years of Sundays? With ten years given to 
worship and the study of God's Word, a man at seventy ought to 
know a great deal concerning the teachings of the Bible. May God 
teach us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto 
wisdom. 



Questions. — How do we measure cloth? Are sugar and coal measured by 
the yard? How do we measure land? How do we measure time? How many 
divisions of time can you name besides seconds? What was the first instrument 
with which time was measured ? With what did King Alfred measure the hours ? 
What was later used for measuring time, after the sun-dial? About how long 
ago were clocks first invented? About how long ago were watches first made? 
Why did David want to be taught to number his days? Can the idle man or 
the busy man more easily find time for necessary duties ? Will you always make 
diligent use of your time? Why does the larger hand of the clock point to the 
minutes? If we take care of the minutes, what will the hours do ? 



PLANS. 

LIVING WITH A PURPOSE. 

Suggestion: — Object: Architect's drawings for the building of a house. 



M 



Y DEAR LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: I 

have here what the architect calls "plans," or drawings 

for a house. Unless the carpenter and builder had a 

copy of the plans he is to follow he would not be able to 

build successfully. He would not know what kind of material he 

would need. He would not know where to place the doors, or how 

large to make the windows, and whether to put the dining room on 



Plans for Building a House. 

this side of the house or on the other side of the house; whether the 
parlor was to be on the first floor or on the second floor. So when a 
man is going to build, the first thing to be done is to decide what 
kind of a house he wants, and then to get an architect who is able to 
draw the plans perfectly, so as to show the size of every door and 

307 



308 PLANS. 

window and room, and the exact position and place of everything 
that is to enter into the building of the house. These plans cost a 
great deal of thought and oftentimes much delay in beginning, but 
in the end they save both time and expense, and secure the most 
desirable results. 

Every boy and girl should have a plan, for we are all builders. 
We build day after day and week after week, and year after year. 
First of all, you should have some great purpose in life, and then 
all your other plans and purposes should be made to further and help 
the great main object which you have in life. 

Once there were two boys who were very intimate when they 
were young. They played together, and came to love each other 
very much. One was a boy who always had a plan. He had a 
plan for studying his lessons; he had a plan which showed what 
time he had resolved to get up in the morning; how many hours he 
would devote to study; what portions of the day he would give to 
play, and how much to work. So each and every day he had his 
plans. At the beginning of the year he had his plans for each month 
of the year. 

The other boy never had any plans. Everything went along just 
as it happened. The boy who always had the plans had no money ; 
his father was poor. But the boy who had no plans had plenty of 
money, for his father was rich. These two boys both became mer- 
chants, had stores in the same square in a large city. The one who 
had the plans always knew what he purposed to do, before the sea- 
son began. He knew just when to purchase his goods for the spring 
trade; he knew when to sell them; everything was done methodic- 
ally and with a plan. As the result of his thoughtful plans he soon 
began to accumulate wealth, obtained a place of confidence in the 
minds of business men, and eventually became one of the most hon- 
ored and influential men in the city. With the other boy it was not 



PLANS. 



309 



so. He bought his goods whenever he chanced to see something 
that he fancied; often bought too much of one thing; had no method 
in business, and consequently in the course of a few years lost what 
money he had and died a poor man. 

Let me hope that you will always have a plan for everything 
you do. God is the God of order, and we should also be orderly in 
all that we do. 

These plans of the architect, when followed by the builders, 
will tell the stonemason, the bricklayer, the millman and the carpen- 
ter, the plasterer and the painter, just what each is to do, and all will 
be able to work in 
harmony, so as to 
secure a nice, com- 
fortable and desir- 
able home when the 
work is completed. 

Now, we are 
all laying founda- 
tions in this world, 
and the perfect char- 
acter Cannot be PIans for Building a Life. 

obtained until in eternity. So when you come to plan for life, do 
not think that your stay in this world is to be all there is of your life. 
Let your plans take in eternity. If they leave out eternity they leave 
out the greatest portion of your existence. If you leave out the idea 
of eternity you will be like the man who simply lays the foundation 
and then never builds a house on it, and there, year after year, the 
foundation stands as the monument of his folly. 

But you may desire to know where you can get the plans for a 
good and noble life — a plan that will include eternity. I will tell 
you : in the Bible. This is the best book in which to find the plans 




310 PLANS. 

for a perfect and complete life. Just the same as the man who is 
going to build a house desires to go and examine other houses, so if 
you desire to be great and good, you should desire to read the biog- 
raphies, the story of the lives of great men. I do not mean the fan- 
cied stories of lives which were never lived, which are so often told 
in some kinds of books, but I mean the lives of real men. When you 
see the difficulties which have been overcome by others; when you 
see how great and good other people have been, it will help you to 
be great and good. But after you have studied the lives of all the 
greatest and best men who have ever lived, and then compare them 
with the life of Jesus Christ, you will eventually come to see very 
clearly and distinctly, that after all there has never been but one per- 
fect life lived on this earth, and that was the life of Jesus Christ. So 
you will readily see that if you desire to use a model which is perfect, 
you will have to take the life of Christ. You will find it fully por- 
trayed in the Bible, especially in the first four books of the New Tes- 
tament — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This will give you the 
model of a perfect life and enable you to live so as to make your life 
glorious while upon the earth, and prepare you for an eternity of hap- 
piness and joy beyond this world. Have a plan and live to it, and 
let your plan include eternity. And may God give you grace to live 
up to a high ideal, to be noble Christian men and noble Christian 
women. 

Questions. — What are needed before a house is built? Are all boys and 
girls builders? Builders of what? Do they need plans? Should we all have a 
main object in life? What must we use all other plans and purposes for? 
Which boy in the story turned out the better? What does the story illustrate? 
Should we have a plan for each thing we do? Does God love order? What 
foundation are we laying in this life? Should our plans concern only this life? 
What kind of a builder are we like, if we make no plans for the life to come? 
Where can we get our plans? What perfect model can we follow? 



THE CHRISTMAS TREE. 

THE LESSONS WHICH IT TEACHES. 

BOYS and girls often think that big people have set apart 
Christmas as a day for gathering around the Christmas tree, 
as a time for Santa Claus, for the giving of presents and for 
having a good time generally. This is not the case. I will 
tell you why we celebrate Christmas, and particularly the signifi- 
cance and meaning of the Christmas tree. Christmas commemor- 
ates the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came into this 
world to redeem us from sin and everlasting death; and the Christ- 
mas tree, laden with its many gifts and suggestive of so much joy 
and blessing, is a symbol of the Saviour. In order that you may 
best understand the full meaning of the Christmas tree, I must call 
your attention to the season of the year when Christmas came. You 
will remember that last summer, when the sun rose at half-past four 
in the morning and did not set until half-past seven in the evening, 
the days were very long, and you could see to go about in the even- 
ing until about eight o'clock and after. At Christmas time the sun 
goes down at half -past four in the afternoon, and does not rise until 
half-past seven in the morning. So you see that the days are about 
six hours shorter in December than they are in the latter part of the 
month of June. Christmas occurs at that season when the days are 
shorter and the nights are longer than at any other period of the 
year. In the Bible darkness represents sin and unbelief and wick- 
edness; and the daytime or light represents truth and righteousness 
and godly living. So you will see that the long nights at the Christ- 

311 



3 1 2 THE CHRISTMAS TREE. 

mas period of the year, and the short days, fitly represent the condi- 
tion of the world at the time when Jesus, the Son of God, was born 
in Bethlehem. At no other time in the world's history was there so 
much of moral darkness and sin and wickedness and corruption in 
the world. Cruelty and crime and wickedness abounded every- 
where. If I were to stop and tell you of the condition of society, of 
the wrong and the iniquity, which abounded everywhere, you would 
be greatly horrified. It was at such a time as this in the world's his- 
tory, when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this world, that 
sin might be banished and righteousness might abound. So you see 
that Christmas occurs at that period of the year when the night and 
the darkness are the longest of any of the entire year, and it very fit- 
tingly represents the condition which existed in the world when 
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, as the Saviour of the world. He 
came to banish the moral darkness which covered the whole earth. 

Not only the time of the year, but also the character of the 
Christmas tree suggests something. With the long nights comes 
also the cold winter. The earth is wrapped in snow. The trees, 
which a few months ago were green and beautiful and in the fall 
all laden with fruit, are now all naked and bare, and if you were 
to go out into the orchard or forest you could not tell the difference 
between a dead tree, and all the others which seem to be dead. 
Among all the trees you would only find such as the pine, the hem- 
lock, the fir and other varieties, such as are known as evergreen 
trees, that would be green and give evidence of life. So you will see 
again how the Christmas tree fittingly represents Christ, because 
these evergreens, in the field and in the forest, seem to be the only 
things that have greenness and life , while all else around them seems 
to be dead and laid in a shroud of white snow. 

The custom of setting up a tree at Christmas time and loading 
it with fruit and gifts seems to have originated in Germany, and the 




Copyrighted, 1911, by Sylvanus Stall. 



The Christmas Tree 



THE CHRISTMAS TREE. 3 1 5 

thought of these people in introducing this custom centuries ago, was 
that they might teach their children this very lesson to which I have 
referred. 

Now, I desire to call your attention also to the fruit which is 
so often hung on the Christmas tree. The Bible tells us that a tree 
is known by its fruit. If you go into the orchard you could tell the 
apple tree from the pear tree, and you could tell the plum tree from 
the peach tree. If you did not know them by their leaves, you 
would at least know them by their fruit. But when you come to 
look at this tree you find oranges upon it. Now, this is not an orange 
tree. You find dolls upon it, but it is not a doll tree. Here are a 
pair of skates, but it is not a skate tree. Here are some candies, but 
it is not a candy tree. Neither can it be known by the name of any 
one of these various things which hang upon the tree. But it is a 
Christmas tree. And all these various kinds of things are properly 
hung upon the Christmas tree to represent the fulfillment of that 
promise that, with His Son Jesus Christ, God would also give us 
all things richly to enjoy. 

The gifts hung on Christmas trees are usually presents from 
one person to another — often not only from parents to children, but 
from teachers to scholars, and from friend to friend. Now, until 
Christ was born, there were no Christmas presents. There was no 
Christmas day celebrated. But the reason we give presents on 
Christmas day is to remind each other of God's Great Gift to man, 
the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Redeemer and Saviour. 
With Jesus Christ, God also gave us grace and truth, reconciliation, 
and pardon and peace and salvation. Man had sinned against 
God; was living in open rebellion against God. Whatever was 
good, man hated. He loved to do wickedly. He preferred to 
serve Satan, rather than to serve God. And Jesus came in order to 
reconcile men to God — to get them to turn away from sin, wicked- 



3 1 6 THE CHRISTMAS TREE. 

ness and Satan, and to accept of God's love and pardon and ever- 
lasting salvation, and to do that which was right and good and 
holy. 

If you could travel through the countries where they do not 
know of Christ and do not worship Him, and then travel through 
Christian countries, where Jesus is loved and honored, you would 
soon see what a great difference there is between the two. We 
have railroads, steamboats, and telegraphs, and telephones, and 
phonographs, and every kind of cloth, and silk, and furs with which 
to clothe ourselves for greatest comfort, and when we sit down at 
our tables there is no good thing that is produced in any nation 
under the sun, that is not available even to those of limited means. 

In the heathen countries it is not so. They are still riding in 
carts drawn by oxen. Without clothing and without comforts, the 
people in Africa are still groping through the bushes and jungles. 
And if you go to India and China and Japan you will find that 
only in so far as they have been brought under the influence of the 
religion of Jesus Christ, do they have even now the material bless- 
ings which come with the Gospel. 

But there are other blessings which come to us with the preach- 
ing of the Gospel. In heathen countries they have no asylums to 
care for the orphans, no hospitals for the sick and the distressed and 
the dying; no institutions of charity and of mercy; but few schools, 
and these only for the rich and the upper classes. So you see that 
these things are among the gifts which God has given us with His 
Son Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas day. 

Then there are also the spiritual blessings and gifts. God's 
grace, communion with God, and the joy and satisfaction we have 
in our hearts in knowing that we are the children of God; that Jesus 
Christ has redeemed us from sin and death; that we are the heirs 
of everlasting life, and of everlasting glory. And the Bible prom- 



THE CHRISTMAS TREE. 3 1 7 

ises us that in the world to come we shall enjoy everlasting blessed- 
ness, and happiness and joy — that we shall dwell forever with 
Jesus Christ; that we shall be made kings and queens unto our 
God. The Bible tells us, that it has not entered into the heart of 
man to think or to conceive of the things which God has in store 
for those who love Him. If we were to laden this tree with all 
the richest treasures of the world they could not adequately suggest 
the great blessings which God has in store for you and for me. 

How fitting, then, that we should be glad and joyous on 
Christmas day! — that you and I should receive not simply these 
material gifts, but that we should also accept of Jesus Christ in 
our hearts and receive His spiritual blessings; and so be adopted 
into the family of God, and be permitted to dwell for ever in His 
presence on high. May God always bless you in your Christmas 
joy, and may you be glad not only because you receive the gifts of 
your parents and friends, but also because God gives to us all, His 
Only Begotten and Well Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be our 
Redeemer and Friend. 



Questions. — What event does Christmas Day commemorate? About what 
time of the year are the days shortest and the nights longest? What does the 
darkness of the long nights represent? Was the world in moral darkness when 
Christ came ? Is He the world's Redeemer ? What trees are green in the winter ? 
Whom does the evergreen tree represent? Why? Where did the custom of 
having Christmas trees probably originate? What do the things on the Christ- 
mas tree represent? Did people give Christmas presents before Christ came? 
What do our gifts to one another represent? With His Son, has God given us 
other things which we are to enjoy? Where do people enjoy the greatest 
material comforts and blessings, in Christian or heathen lands? In what lands 
are the largest spiritual blessings enjoyed? 



EASTER SUNDAY. 

THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 

Suggestion: — Objects: An egg and a little chick in a cage, or a toy chick, 
such as are often available at Easter time may be used. 

MY LITTLE FRIENDS: Can you tell me what we com- 
memorate on Easter Sunday? Yes, we commemorate 
the resurrection of Christ from the dead. 

You remember how some weeks ago I showed you 
a watch-case.* You thought it was a watch, but when I opened it 
it had no works in it, consequently it was only a watch-case. When 
I placed the works in the case, then it made a complete watch. 

So you have also seen the body of a dead person and you 
have possibly thought that that was the individual, the person 
whom you had known; but that which you saw was only the body. 
The soul, the immortal part, had taken its departure and gone back 
to God who first placed it in the body. Now, just the same as the 
works of a watch can keep good time without being in the case, so 
the soul can exist apart from the body. If you were to take the 
watch-case and bury it in the ground, that fact would not affect 
either the existence or the accuracy of the works of the watch in 
measuring time. So when God takes the soul out of the body we 
say that it is a dead body, and it becomes necessary for us to bury it 
out of our sight. 

* Note — Sermon on Watch and Case, see page 125. 
318 




The Women at the Sepulchre. 



319 



320 EASTER SUNDAY. 

On Good Friday we commemorate the death of Christ upon 
the cross on Calvary. You remember how, after the crucifixion, 
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus came and took the body of 
Christ down from the cross and laid it in a new tomb which Joseph 
had hewn out of rock in his garden. When this had been done, 
Pilate remembered how Jesus had said that if He were put to 
death, after three days He would rise again. Now, Pilate did not 
believe that Jesus would rise again, but was afraid that His dis- 
ciples or some friends might come by night and steal away His 
body and circulate the report that Jesus had risen from the dead; so 
he placed Roman soldiers around the sepulchre to prevent His dis- 
ciples from coming near the tomb, or sepulchre where Joseph had 
laid away the body of Christ. Pilate purposed to prevent the pos- 
sibility of Christ's resurrection, but in the fact that he placed the 
soldiers there he secured for all after ages the most positive proof 
that Jesus did actually rise from the dead. These soldiers were 
Roman soldiers, and if they had slept while they were upon guard 
duty, the penalty would have been death. But when the angel 
came down from heaven and rolled away the stone, then we are 
told that these Roman soldiers became as dead men. 

It is on Easter Sunday that we commemorate this rising of 
Christ from the grave or sepulchre. Now, can you tell me why it 
is that on Easter we have these Easter eggs, such as I hold in my 
hand? I will tell you why it is. It is because while the outside of 
this egg is like the outside of a vault or grave, yet inside there is a 
germ of life. If you take a dozen perfect eggs and place them 
under a mother hen, and have her set on them for three weeks, at 
the end of that time out of these eggs which seem to have nothing 
of life in them, there will come forth little chickens, just such as I 
hold in my hand, only this one is not alive. But it is a very accurate 
representation of a little chicken a day or two old. 



EASTER SUNDAY. 321 

Now, just in this same way if you were to drive through a 
cemetery and look at a vault, which is the nearest that we have in 
this country in likeness to the sepulchre in which the body of Christ 
was laid, you would not suppose for a moment that there would be 
living people in that vault. While the bodies that are in the vault 
are dead bodies, yet they have the promise of life, God will some 
day raise them up, unite again the soul and the body and give them 
that everlasting life and resurrection glory which Jesus has prom- 
ised. And as Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning, 
so we have the promise that in the final resurrection the bodies of 




Little Chickens Just Out of the Shells. 

all who have ever lived upon the earth shall hear the voice of the 
Son of God and shall come forth ; those who have lived Christian 
lives to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the 
resurrection of death and eternal punishment. 

The egg then is the symbol of life, for out of this seemingly 

lifeless object there comes forth the living chick; so out of the graves 

and sepulchres there will eventually come forth the bodies of all 

who have ever died, and these bodies shall become resurrection 

20 



322 EASTER SUNDAY. 

bodies. These mortals shall put on immortality, and these corrupt- 
ible bodies shall put on incorruption; and then the souls and the 
bodies of all shall be reunited, never again to be separated through- 
out all eternity. 

Perhaps during the past few months or years you may have laid 
away in the grave the body of some dear little brother or sister, or 
perhaps of a kind father or mother, or some other friend; if so, the 
spring season of the year will suggest to you the resurrection. The 
grass and the flowers which appeared to be dead last fall, and 
which during the winter have been wrapped in a white shroud of 
snow, now feel the warm breath of spring, and life and beauty are 
coming forth out of the sepulchre of the winter. 

Soon all the trees will put forth their leaves and then beau- 
teous blossoms and sweet fragrance will tell of the spring time as 
the resurrection period of the year. 

So at Easter time we properly turn to the cemeteries where rest 
the bodies of our loved ones and know that the long winter of death 
and decay shall eventually give place to the promised resurrection 
of life and beauty. On that Easter morn the bodies of our loved 
ones shall be raised up, the soul and the body shall be reunited,, 
and we shall see them and know them as they are. 

Now, just how God shall gather again all the scattered parts 
of these bodies that were buried in the sea, or have decayed back to 
earth in the ground, we do not know. But our ignorance does not 
change the fact. I do not understand how at first God created man 
out of dust of the earth, nor do I know how the bread and meat and 
food which I eat each day nourish my life and become part of my 
own body. I do not know how, out of the same handful of earth, 
either an apple or a flower might grow. I know that it is so, but the 
how I do not know; nor does my ignorance prevent or hinder God 
from accomplishing it. If each day I eat food which by some 



EASTER SUNDAY. 323 

strange power which God has placed within me is changed into 
bones in my body, to hair on my head, to nails on the ends of my 
fingers, to teeth, and eyes and ears and thus becomes a part of 
myself, why should I question, or desire to know how God is able 
to quicken in the grave the power to make the body to live again. 
If in the beginning God only spoke and worlds came into being, I 
know that when He shall command these bodies to rise from death 
and the grave they also will hear His voice and obey. 

I am sure that no boy nor girl here would want that, on the 
morning of the resurrection his or her body should refuse to obey 
God's voice when He shall command the dead to come forth from 
their graves in life and beauty. You will want to obey Him then, 
but should you not also desire to obey Him now? When God tells 
you in the Bible what He wants you to do, are you obedient? Do 
you do as He commands? If you are disobedient now, then in the 
morning of the resurrection you might even desire, rather to remain 
in your grave, so that you should not have to look into the face of 
Him whom you have disobeyed and offended. If you want to 
awake on that final Easter morning in the likeness of Jesus and be 
forever with Him in glory, remember that you must obey God now 
as Jesus did when He was upon the earth. If we would be like 
Jesus in glory, we must strive to be like Him in all that we do, and 
I trust that you may think of this daily. At all times when you are 
uncertain what it is your duty to do, ask yourself this question: "If 
He were in my place, what would Jesus do?" And then act and 
do as nearly as possible as you think Jesus would do under the same 
circumstances. 

Questions. — What does Easter commemorate? Is a dead body actually the 
person you knew? What has become of the soul? What do we commemorate 
on Good Friday? Of what are Easter eggs the symbol? What does the shell 
represent? What does the inside represent? Will the bodies of all who have 
died be raised some day? Who tells us this? What will God do with the risen 



324 



EASTER SUNDAY. 



bodies? What will become of the good? What of the wicked? Do we know 
how God will gather the scattered parts of the body? Does it make any differ- 
ence whether we know how or not ? Is anyone likely to refuse God's summons on 
the Judgment Day? Do we always obey Him now? When in doubt what ques- 
tion should we ask ourselves ? 




Joseph in the Pit 



CROWNS. 




A Crown of Leaves. 



THE CHILDREN OF THE KING. 

Suggestion: — Objects: A crown of leaves or paper, or of both. 

BOYS AND GIRLS: I have to-day two or three crowns, 
and I want to talk to you about those who are children of 
the King. 

First of all, I 
have here a crown which is 
made of leaves. This was the 
first kind of crown ever used. 
Three thousand years ago or 
more, those who excelled in 
strength, or running, or wrestling, or in any of the games which were 
common then, received a crown like this, which was placed upon 

their heads. This was regarded as a 
very great honor. Afterward, the 
kings of the earth began to use crowns. 
Their crowns were made of gold and 
set with costly jewels. These they 
wore on state occasions to indicate their 
high rank and position. Here is a 
A Jewelled Crown. crown made of gilt paper and set with 

a few silver-paper stars, meant to represent the crowns which kings 
and queens wear. While this crown is only made of paper, the 
crowns of kings and queens are made of gold, set with many costly 
stones. Besides the larger jewels in the crown of King George V. 
of England, there are also sixteen sapphires, eleven emeralds, 

325 




326 



CROWNS. 



nearly three hundred pearls, and some twenty-eight hundred very 
costly diamonds, and it is estimated to be worth many millions of 
dollars. 

Now suppose that we had gathered into this room the children, 
the boys and girls, of all the kings and queens of earth. Suppose 
also that they could all understand English, and that none of them 
knew that they were the sons and daughters of kings and queens, 
and that it was my delightful privilege to tell them how great and 
rich and powerful their parents are; and then I were also permitted 

to tell them, for the first 
time, what beautiful 
crowns their parents own. 
Suppose also that after 
exciting their curiosity 
about these things, I 
should have the crowns 
of all the kings of earth 
placed on a long table at 
my side, covered with a 
beautiful cloth, and after 
telling them about the crowns, I should uncover this table with all 
these crowns of gold, studded with jewels. Don't you suppose that 
the eyes of all those boys and girls would sparkle with curiosity and 
delight? 

But now, suppose that it were my privilege to do more than to 
show them the crowns. Suppose that I were permitted also to tell 
them that they were heirs to these crowns, and that after their fath- 
ers and mothers, the present kings and queens, had died, they were 
to become kings and queens, and were to receive these crowns as 
their own. Suppose that, more than this, it were my privilege to 
pick up the crown of Denmark, and then calling some little boy to 




The Crowns on a Table. 



crowns. 327 

me I were to hand it to him, and tell him that he was to keep it, and 
that some day it would be placed upon his head, and he would be 
King of Denmark. And then I should take the crown of Sweden, 
and calling another girl, I should give her that crown, and tell her 
that she should keep it, until some day it would be placed upon her 
head, and she should be Queen of Sweden. Suppose that in the 
same way I should take the crowns of Germany and Russia, and 
Austria, and Italy, and Spain, and the great crown of Eng- 
land, and all the crowns of all the nations of the earth; and 
calling the boys and girls by name, should have them come forward 
and receive these crowns, to be kept until they should be placed upon 
their heads, when they should be Kings and Queens, ruling in great 
pomp, and splendor, and honor, and power. Do you not think that 
it would be a very happy hour to these boys and girls, when all 
these great thoughts should be disclosed to them for the first time, 
and they should look upon such costly crowns, and receive them into 
their own hands, as their very own? 

Now, boys and girls, while you have been listening to me, you 
have possibly not thought that what I have told you is really being 
fulfilled in your own hearing to-day, for the Bible tells us, "I will 
be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith 
the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. vi: 18. ) Then, in another place, it 
also says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not 
yet appear what we shall be." ( 1 John iii: 2.) So you see that it 
is my privilege to-day to talk, not to the children of earthly kings, 
whose glory is only temporal and whose honor is always uncertain, 
but I am permitted to talk to the children of the King of kings. ( 1 
Tim. vi: 15; Rev. xix: 16.) The Scriptures not only tell us that 
God "is the only Potentate (the only powerful one), the King of 
kings," but it also tells us that He "hath made us unto our God 
kings and priests." (Rev. v: 10.) The same great book also tells 



328 crowns. 

us, not only, that we shall be kings and priests unto our God, but 
that we "shall reign forever and ever." (Rev. xxii: 5.) When a 
king dies he ceases to be king upon earth, but when God shall make 
us kings and queens and crown us in Heaven, we shall never die 
again, or cease to be kings and queens. The Bible tells us very clearly 
that our Father in Heaven is King over all earthly kings ; greater than 
any of them; greater than all the kings of earth put together; a mil- 
lion times greater; yes, millions and millions of times greater; so 
much greater that the two do not compare in reality, but earthly 
kings simply suggest to our minds something of our great Heavenly 
King. God, this great King, created us and we were His children. 
But our first parents sinned and rebelled against Him, and refused to 
recognize Him as Father and to obey what He wanted them to do. 
But God loved them and us as a tender Father, and sent His only- 
begotten and well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to reconcile us; to tell 
us that God the Father loved us; that He was willing to forgive us, 
and that He would still accept us and make us kings and priests unto 
Himself, would crown us with glory, would give us dominion and 
make us kings and priests forever in Heaven. So you see that there 
can be no mistake about our being sons and daughters of the Lord 
Almighty. We are not only His children, but He has promised 
us crowns of glory and thrones of dominion and power. 

If you and I were in England to-day and could walk into the 
Tower of London, where they keep the crown and the jewels of the 
royal family, and we could learn the value of these costly jewels, 
and crowns and scepters, it matters not how rich we might be, I am 
sure we would have to despair of ever being able to purchase these 
costly crown jewels. They are estimated at many millions of dol- 
lars. Now, if an earthly crown, which can only be retained for a 
few years, is so valuable, how much more valuable are the everlast- 
ing crowns, such as God gives, and which are to be ours for all eter- 



crowns. 329 

nity? And if we are not able to buy such an earthly crown, how 
much less are we able to purchase or buy a heavenly crown? The 
heavenly crowns are so valuable that we could never hope to buy 
them, therefore God gives them to us because He loves us. 

More than two hundred years ago a man by the name of 
Colonel Blood attempted to steal the crowns and the crown jewels 
of England. He was not altogether successful, but was arrested 
before he escaped with them. But do you know that there are 
many who would steal your crown, and my crown of everlasting 
glory, if they possibly could? Therefore, God tells us in the Bible, 
"Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." 
(Rev. iii: 1 1 .) So you see it is very important that we should be 
constantly on our guard. The King of England has soldiers to 
watch day and night, lest any one should steal his crown. And so 
also you and I need to be constantly on our guard, lest wicked people 
and sinful influences should rob us of our heavenly crown. 

Not only are crowns sometimes stolen, but sometimes they are 
also lost. About fifty years ago some people were digging in 
France, and they found eight costly crowns, all lying close together, 
having been lost or hidden away in the earth. Four of them were 
very costly and very beautiful, while the others were smaller crowns. 
The first four were for the king and the queen, and the prince, and 
one other of the older children, and the other four crowns were for 
the younger children of the king's household. Yet you see that the 
father and mother and all the children lost their crowns. I trust that 
no parents here, or children either, would prize their heavenly crowns 
so lightly as ever to lose them. 

There are thousands of people who would be willing to put 
forth any effort, or to pay any costs, if they could only obtain an 
earthly crown, and yet the Bible tells us that these people do it "to 
obtain a corruptible crown; but we, an incorruptible." (1 Cor. ix: 



330 CROWNS. 

25.) Now, by a corruptible crown is meant one that, like this crown 
made of leaves, will fade and fall to pieces, and decay, and thus pass 
entirely away. Even a crown of gold, studded with costly jewels, 
would thus also eventually perish. The crown which God gives to 
us is an imperishable crown, which never fades, and never passes 
away. And therefore the Scriptures say, "And when the Chief 
Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that f adeth 
not away." (1 Peter v: 4.) 

Since the Bible teaches us these truths so plainly, "What man- 
ner of persons ought we to be, in all holy conversation and godli- 
ness?" (2 Peter iii: 11 .) What more appropriate words could I 
say to you in closing, than that which God says to us in the blessed 
Book in which He has revealed all these things, "Wherefore, 
beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may 
be found of him in peace without spot, and blameless." (2 Peter 
iii: 14.) 

Questions. — What kind of crown was first worn? Because crowns of 
leaves were so perishable, of what were crowns later made? What can you tell 
about the crown of the king of England? If the crowns of all the kings of 
earth could be brought together, would people desire to see them? If the chil- 
dren of earthly kings were present and we told them for the first time that they 
were the children of kings and gave them the crowns which they were eventually 
to own, would they be likely to be pleased ? Are you the child of a King who is 
the King above all kings ? Has He promised you a crown ? Will your crown be 
perishable? How long will it last? Can you quote any of the passages of 
Scripture which tell of our being the children of the King of kings ? Could the 
crown of an earthly king be bought? Is there money enough in the world to 
buy a crown of everlasting life? How then is this crown to be obtained? Who 
once stole a crown and the crown jewels of England? Was he successful in 
getting away with them? Who tries to steal our crown of everlasting glory? 
Is he ever successful? Can you tell about the eight crowns which were found 
hidden away in the earth in France? In what book are we told that our crown 
is to be imperishable and unfading, and to be ours forever ? What exhortation is 
contained in the last sentence of the last sermon in this book? 

The End. 



A WORD TO PARENTS 



THE imploring letters which come to me constantly from all parts of the 
globe, written by young men and women who are almost hopelessly strug- 
gling to be freed from evils into which they have fallen through ignorance, 
prompt me to urge upon parents the great importance of safe-guarding their 
children from evils unspeakable by information which should always reach the 
child through the parent. 

Many parents appreciate their duty to their children in this matter; the 
only thing that restrains them is that they do not know what to say and how to 
say it. They are in just the situation that I found myself with my own boy 
and girl before I had made a special study of this subject 

It was to assist parents in this trying situation that I wrote "What a 
Young Boy Ought to Know,'* and that Dr. Mary Wood-Allen wrote "What 
a Young Girl Ought to Know." These two books, together with "What a 
Young Man Ought to Know'* and "What a Young Woman Ought to Know," 
have proven a benediction to thousands of parents, and have saved multitudes 
of boys and girls; of young men and young women from evils that come from 
blind blundering among dangers that are attended with consequences that often 
project themselves throughout the entire life, and frequently involve even future 
generations. 

These books were written to make men and women — not money. The 
United States Government has had the books to men placed in the libraries of 
all the battleships, and those addressed to boys and girls and young men and 
young women placed in all the schools maintained by the Government for the 
education of the North American Indians. 

Requests have been made for permission to translate these books into 
some forty different languages, and most of these requests have come from 
Christian missionaries and church missionary societies, who have desired the 
teachings which these books contain for use by their missionaries. 

These books, in English, sell at One Dollar per copy, and a simple post 
card request addressed to the writer of the little book you now hold in your 
hands, will bring you descriptive printed matter by early post. 

SYLVANUS STALL, 

206 North Fifteenth Street, 

Philadelphia, Pa., U. S. A. 



WITH THE CHILDREN ON SUNDAYS 



Through Eye-Gate and Ear-Gate Into the 
City of Child Soul 



B^SYLVANUS STALL, D. D. 



ENTHUSIASTICALLY COMMENDED BY THE PRESS 



For the Family Circle and Teachers. 

"Delightful and instructive reading for the family circle on Sunday after- 
noons." — The Rams Horn. 

"The language and style are simple and effective. In approaching the 
mind and heart through the eye, as well as the ear, Dr. Stall uses the method 
which the best instructor should use to convey knowledge to the mind of the 
child. The book is suggestive of effective work, and is worthy of the careful 
attention of all who talk to children in the Sunday School, Church and home." — 
Augsburg Teacher. 

"These sermons cannot help being suggestive to every one who would in- 
terest children. The sermons are fascinating, and their publication marks an 
era in the instruction and edification of children. They will serve a noble 
purpose in calling back to the simplicity of preaching so wonderfully illustrated 
in the words of Christ." — Wesleyan Methodist. 

Specially Adapted to Children. 

"Dr. Stall has undoubtedly the happy faculty of presenting to children 
sober truths in a manner to them most interesting." — Times, Boston, Mass. 

"In this little volume there are good examples of excellent preaching to 
the young, and the book merits a wide circulation." — Central Presbyterian. 

"These little delightful sermons are models of point and brevity, and reach 
the little hearts through the eye and the ear." — Christian Observer. 

"A more practical series of discourses for children we never before have 
seen. The illustrations are simple and forceful, and the lessons worthy of con- 
sideration." — Central Methodist. 

"It is an excellent work, and the plan is admirably suited to reach and im- 
press youthful minds with correct principles. The language is plain and easily 
understood and yet the central thought is well defined and easily grasped." — 
The Christian Instructor. 

"The topics are timely and fresh, the objects simple and telling, and the 
sermons themselves just what sermons to children ought to be, brief and well 



illustrated, fascinating and practical. Boys and girls will devour every one of 
them with relish, whilst we children of a larger growth will be children again." — 
Lutheran Observer. 

"The chapters contained in the volume are such as are sure to win the 
attention and interest of the children. We are confident that Dr. Stall has found 
the right key to the situation, and we commend his work most heartily." — Mes- 
siah's Herald. 

"The gift of talking sense to children in a way interesting to them is a rare 
one. These fifty- two short sermons show that Dr. Stall has this rare gift in an 
eminent degree. This is shown, not only in his way of putting things, but also 
in his subjects and illustrative objects." — Lutheran Quarterly. 

"In this volume the author seeks to attract the young through the presenta- 
tion of the old truths of the Gospel in the form which arrest the eye, secures 
the attention, impresses the mind, and wins the heart for Christ and the right. 
The entrance into the city of Child-soul is sought by assaulting both the Eye- 
gate and Ear-gate. At the same time the illustrations used are impressive, the 
truths taught are simple, and the impressions made are likely to be lasting." — Jer- 
sey City Times. 

"It is not every one who is able to present to children sober truths in a 
manner interesting to them, for it requires a special talent to either speak to or 
write for children, but Dr. Stall has undoubtedly the happy faculty of doing this. 
The author's object is to implant in the child's mind seeds of truth and love, 
nobleness and justice, and all the virtues that go to make a manly boy and woman- 
ly girl, as well as a God-loving child." — Boston Times. 



From the Children of New England. 

SYLVANUS STALL, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa. 
Reverend Sir: 

I wish to thank you in behalf of my school children for having your short 
sermons to children published. I read them to my school children as part of 
our devotional exercises, and I often hear remarks like this: "I wish the author 
would come to Moose Meadow. I wish I could hear him. I wish I could see 
him and thank him for writing those sermons. Can't we write to him and thank 
him?" etc., and so I have been led to write you, thanking you in their behalf. 

Moose Meadow is a small country place in Eastern Connecticut, and I 
wish you to know that the country children enjoy your sermons equally as well 
as city children, and I am very glad that a copy of your book was put into my 
hands. I feel very grateful to God for putting it into the heart of some one to 
write such interesting sermons and beautiful object lessons. 

Respectfully, 

Mrs. A. B. Dawe, 
Moose Meadow, Town of Willington, 

Connecticut. 



A Suggestive Book for Preachers. 

"Pastors in search of something suggestive for talking in a helpful manner 
to children will find this book both helpful and suggestive." — Reformed Church 
Messenger. 

"A careful reading of this book will enable any minister of anything like 
ordinary brightness to adapt much of his preaching to the comprehension of the 
young." — Gospel Messenger. 

"We do not know that we can give a stronger commendation of this little vol- 
ume than to say that on a brief examination of it we got the suggestion for a series 
of half a dozen evening sermons to young people. The book is most suggestive, 
and spiritually as well as mentally refreshing." — Christian Statesman. 

"An examination of the little sermons in this book shows the reader that 
Dr. Stall skillfully manages each topic, and leaves helpful lessons of moral and 
religious truths. The book will suggest to pastors methods of work that will 
bring the children into a closer relation to the services of the Sabbath." — Chris- 
tian Secretary. 

"Excellent, admirable, irresistible approaches through the Eye-gate and 
Ear-gate in the City of Child-soul. The author is a genius. There is not a dull 
line between the covers of this book." — Christian Endeavor World. 

Other Enthusiastic Words. 

"These sermons are delightful and helpful in their explanation. We have 
seen nothing that compares with it." — Herald of Cospel Liberty. 

"These sermons are animated in style, bright, interesting and practical." — 
The Advance. 

"Dr. Stall's sermons are excellent examples of abstract lessons from the 
common objects of everyday life, practical and effective." — Books and Authors. 

"Dr. Stall is an expert in this line of work attempted, and we may add 
achieved in this little book. He addresses little object sermons as bright, pithy 
and taking as they can be with a good point to them always." — Nerv York In- 
dependent. 

"These short sermons will be found wonderfully suggestive. The author 
goes back to Bible methods, and selects common things with which all are 
familiar from which to draw his lessons. — Inter Ocean, Chicago. 

"The old truths of the Gospel in this new form arrest the eye, secure the 
attention, impress the mind, and win the heart for Christ." — Herald and 
Presbytery. 

"The illustrations used are impressive, and truths taught are important, and 
the impressions made are likely to be lasting." — Nerv York Observer. 

"The author, after the manner of the parables told by our Lord, presents 
important truths of the Gospel to the easy comprehension of both old and young." 
— Christian Work. 

"These little sermons are free from sensational, mawkish, maudlin stories. 
At the same time, they are interesting for old and young, and the short talks to 
children are admirable." — Western Recorder. 

"With the objects of every day life presented to the eye, the author, after 
the manner of the parables, presents important truths of the Gospel to the easy 
comprehension of both the old and young." — Methodist Recorder. 



